Katherine Mader

Nearly two years ago, top officials of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office rejected a subordinate's suggestion to create a system that would allow prosecutors to quickly check the reliability of jailhouse informants, The Times learned Tuesday. The proposal was discussed and dismissed in early 1987 at a meeting attended by virtually all the top aides to Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner. Reiner did not attend the gathering and was not available for comment Tuesday.

The city is sprinkled with sites of the untimely deaths of the famous and the fated. From John Belushi to the Black Dahlia, Los Angeles has been the backdrop for many a notorious demise. Solved or unsolved, some murders and suicides become part of the cultural fabric, spawning books, movies and even sightseeing tours. Here is a look at episodes from the city's homicidal history. 1.

It must have taken a lot of courage for Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Katherine Mader to excuse herself from a case involving questionable testimony from two police officers ("Conundrum," Metropolis, March 28). A stronger ego would have dismissed the idea that he or she was biased against them. Brooke Shibata Palm Desert

A pictorial history of Santa Monica, Malibu and the Palisades is due out next year. The book, titled "The Light Fantastic: An Illustrated History of Santa Monica," will be published by the Santa Monica Historical Society and Windsor Publications. It will feature text by California writers Marvin J. Wolf and Katherine Mader and will contain hundreds of historic photographs and illustrations, some never published before, according to a press release.

Former Los Angeles surgeon Jules Mark Lusman, whose medical license was revoked for improperly prescribing drugs to celebrities, pleaded no contest Monday to two felony charges of practicing medicine without a license and grand theft of personal property. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Katherine Mader immediately sentenced Lusman to five years' probation and ordered him to complete 30 days of community service, pay restitution and refrain from practicing medicine.

Seven new judges of the Los Angeles Superior Court were enrobed Friday, including Katherine Mader, former Inspector General of the Los Angeles Police Department. Sworn in with Mader were were Emile Elias, Christopher Estes, Clifford Klein, David Mintz, Patricia Titus and John Segal. Mader, a former deputy district attorney and criminal defense lawyer, served as the LAPD's first inspector general for 2 1/2 years.

A judge on Thursday sentenced a Westwood auto shop owner's widow to death for contracting her husband's murder so that she could collect on a $400,000 life insurance policy. Catherine Thompson showed no reaction as Superior Court Judge George Trammell told her he could think of no good reason to reconsider a jury's recommendation of death.

A comprehensive history of Santa Monica--from Cabrillo's first contact with the Gabrieleno Indians in 1542 to the recent renovation of the pier--is now available in an illustrated hard-cover book. "Santa Monica: Jewel of the Sunset Bay," a 136-page book with 16 photographs in color and more than 100 in black and white, was written by local authors Marvin J. Wolf and Katherine Mader.

A Beverly Hills judge ruled Monday that Los Angeles Municipal Judge Edward L. Davenport, whose two trials on charges of drunk driving and refusing to submit to a blood alcohol test ended in hung juries, must face prosecution again. The latest trial ended last week after 13 days in court, an unusually long time for a drunk-driving case. Deputy Dist. Atty. Katherine Mader had offered to drop the second charge in exchange for a guilty plea on the first, but Davenport declined to accept the deal.