A veteran Los Angeles police sergeant who uncovered information casting doubt on a 20-year-old murder conviction testified Friday that he was told to cut his investigation short and was then berated by a supervisor when he objected.
Sgt. Jim Gavin, an 18-year veteran of the LAPD, said he had unearthed inconsistencies in the 1985 murder conviction of Bruce Lisker, and that he wanted to continue his probe. But Gavin said his boss, a lieutenant in the department's internal affairs division, had already made up his mind about Lisker, who had been convicted of killing his mother.
" 'Look, that [expletive] is staying in prison. Do you understand me?' " Gavin quoted his supervisor, Lt. Mike Williams, as telling him during a meeting in 2004.
Gavin said Williams reiterated his position months later, after Lisker's private investigator wrote a letter to Chief William J. Bratton complaining about Williams' interference and alleging that the department was trying to cover up problems with Lisker's case.
"You've done it now," Gavin said Williams warned him, pointing a finger in his face.
Williams, now an LAPD captain, could not be reached for comment. He has previously declined to discuss his involvement in the case.
Gavin's testimony -- which drew gasps from some of Lisker's supporters -- came during the second day of an evidentiary hearing in federal court. Lisker, who is seeking to have his conviction overturned, was convicted of fatally beating and stabbing his 66-year-old mother, Dorka, in the family's Sherman Oaks home on March 10, 1983.
Lawyers for the attorney general's office, who are opposing Lisker's habeas corpus petition, declined to comment. They will have an opportunity to cross-examine Gavin when the hearing resumes Monday.
LAPD officials also declined to comment on Gavin's allegations, noting that he has already indicated that he intends file a lawsuit against the city.
During his nearly three hours on the witness stand, Gavin said he was working in the internal affairs division in June 2003 when he was assigned to investigate a complaint letter that Lisker had sent from Mule Creek State Prison, where he is serving a life sentence. In the complaint, Lisker, now 40, alleged that the lead LAPD detective in his case, Andrew Monsue, conducted a sloppy, dishonest investigation and then lied years later to keep him wrongly imprisoned.
