Archie Nagao

To the obvious distress of the slain officer's partner, a Superior Court jury Monday recommended that Sang Nam Chinh be sentenced to life in prison without parole, rather than the death penalty, for his role in the 1984 Chinatown murder of Los Angeles policeman Duane Johnson. Johnson's partner, Officer Archie Nagao, who was wounded in the unsuccessful 1984 jewelry store robbery, shook his head as the verdict was read and then hurriedly left the courtroom.

A Los Angeles police officer who was wounded in a Chinatown shoot-out that killed his partner described the deadly gun battle in court Thursday, but he could not identify any of the three alleged robbers. Officer Archie Nagao, 29, was shot in the neck after he and his partner responded to a robbery in progress at the Jin Hing Jade Jewelry and Antiques Store. His partner, Duane Johnson, 27, was shot to death.

Los Angeles Police Department coolness to the proposed formation of a multiagency task force combatting organized crime in the Asian community killed the idea before it could get off the ground, at least two Southern California police chiefs complained Friday. The notion was conceived by Assistant U.S. Atty. J.

In an emotional ceremony Tuesday, nine Los Angeles police officers were honored for their bravery with the Police Department's Medal of Valor. About 900 people looked on as Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, who was celebrating 37 years on the police force Tuesday, presented the medals during the 26th annual awards luncheon at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel downtown. Actor Cary Grant narrated the descriptions of the officers' heroic acts. Kathleen Johnson, the widow of Officer Duane C.

More than 25 years ago then-Los Angeles patrolman Mike Kriha responded to a radio call: "See the man. Found property." A business owner had called police about a box left in front of his store. As Kriha and his partner opened the metal box, six sticks of dynamite exploded, blowing off Kriha's left hand and his partner's right hand. "Back then, if you were injured on the job you would be asked to retire, or you would retire on your own," Kriha said.

While relatives of slain Los Angeles Police Officer Duane Johnson sobbed quietly, a jury Wednesday returned a guilty verdict against one of two men accused of killing him during the robbery of a Chinatown jewelry store in 1984. Sang Nam Chinh, 22, calmly sat facing Superior Court Judge Jean Matusinka as the jury returned its verdict, finding Chinh guilty of two murders, attempted murder and robbery.

A contrite Hau Cheong (Peter) Chan, convicted of second-degree murder in the 1984 killing of a Los Angeles police officer during a Chinatown robbery attempt, was given a state prison term of 38 years to life Tuesday. The sentencing by Superior Court Judge Jean Matusinka capped 1 1/2 days of acrimonious wrangling between Chan's defense attorneys and prosecutor Lawrence Longo over the contents of Chan's probation report.

Los Angeles police officers, complaining that they are becoming outgunned by well-armed criminals, won permission Tuesday to carry semi-automatic pistols--weapons with more than double the firepower of revolvers now used. In what was designated as a two-year "pilot program," the Police Commission decided that officers who no longer want to carry department-issued .38-caliber revolvers will be allowed to buy the newly sanctioned 9-millimeter guns.

In a major defeat for the prosecution, a Superior Court jury Monday ended the yearlong Chinatown trials by sparing the life of the alleged mastermind of a violent 1984 robbery that caused the deaths of a Los Angeles police officer and two holdup men. Prosecutors had sought first-degree murder convictions that could have sent Hau Cheong (Peter) Chan to San Quentin's death chamber.