Three years before he was charged with kidnapping and murdering 17-year-old Lily Burk, Charles Samuel slipped through an unlocked side door of a Van Nuys home.
The man living there, James Alger, was dating Samuel's ex-wife, according to court records newly obtained by The Times. As he spotted Samuel in his home, Alger confronted the intruder, asking why he had entered the house.
"I can do whatever . . . I want," Samuel responded.
Samuel punched Alger two or three times in the face, leaving the victim bruised before Samuel snatched a cordless phone and keys and fled, according to a probation report released to The Times in response to an order from a court of appeals.
The report gives the clearest picture yet of the criminal record and recent biography of the man accused in the abduction and slaying of Burk, a high school student whose killing this summer jolted a city inured to news of violence.
Samuel's criminal record stretches over three decades and includes mostly minor theft and drug crimes.
But the probation report shows that Samuel, 50, was also known to authorities as someone with a recent violent past.
This and other public law-enforcement and court records lay out how a combination of clerical errors, decisions by criminal justice officials and luck helped Samuel avoid a lengthy prison term that might otherwise have placed him behind bars on the day Burk was killed.
At the time of the June 30, 2006, Van Nuys attack, Samuel's record included convictions for robbery and residential burglary in San Bernardino, making him subject to prosecution under the state's tough three-strikes law. The law carries a 25-years-to-life prison term for third strikers.
Clerical error
But because of clerical errors that misstated Samuel's criminal record, Los Angeles County prosecutors were unaware of his previous residential burglary conviction.
Even if prosecutors had known about Samuel's two previous strikes, it is unclear whether they would have sought a life prison term. Under L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, prosecutors generally do not seek life sentences for repeat offenders unless the third strike involves a violent or serious crime, such as robbery.
In this case, the district attorney's office charged Samuel with one felony -- petty theft with a prior -- and misdemeanor battery. Samuel pleaded no contest to the theft charge.
