Path of a Bullet

When gunfire ripped through the night and abruptly ended the life of Martine Perry, the cumbersome and expensive wheels of justice began to turn.

It's a cycle that will take months -- perhaps years -- to complete. And the cost to taxpayers could easily approach $2 million dollars.

Already, with no dates set for trial of the four suspects, the cost of a single bullet is mounting day by day.

The overall cost of justice in this case, nearly $1.8 million, does not include the overhead of running institutions like jails and courthouses, the benefits county and state workers receive, prison inflation or expenditures on the jury. Nor does it consider possible appeals of the guilty sentences.

The three adults charged in the crime -- Fautua Frank Utu, 25, of Hawaiian Gardens and two Long Beach men, Valu Eliu Molioo, 21, and Aldo Enrique Hernandez, 22 -- are confined in the Men's Central Jail near downtown Los Angeles. That costs $51 a day for each of the three -- $18,615 a year, if they stay that long. There are two inmates in each cell. They are served three meals a day, and they watch television in the dayrooms. The ratio between inmates and deputies is 8 to 1.

The juvenile, Luis Felipe Gutierrez, is being held at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey at a cost of $88 a day, or $32,120 a year. (The Press-Telegram usually does not identify juveniles accused of crimes, but is doing so in this case because of the seriousness of the offense.)

Most kids at Los Padrinos have their own small rooms. The heavy doors don't have bars, but still could be described as cells. The kids also get three meals a day AND medical care, and they get to watch TV in the dayrooms. They also go to school every day, so there are additional educational costs for juvenile offenders.

Minor or adult?

While the three adults in the case are going though the preliminary stages that precede a trial, proceedings against Gutierrez are under way to determine whether he should be tried as a minor or an adult.

Determining that involves a fitness hearing and an investigation by the Probation Department, the county agency that oversees minors in the criminal justice system much as the Sheriff's Department handles adult inmates.

A Probation Department fitness report to the court considers such criteria as the juvenile's criminal sophistication and previous delinquent history, any previous attempts to rehabilitate the child, and the seriousness of the offense. The fitness report is usually done by one person, but more may get involved, depending on the case. The investigator reviews the police report and may interview witnesses.

While it usually takes just a few weeks for the Probation Department to complete its investigation and file a fitness report, officials say the entire process of determining fitness can last anywhere from a few weeks up to six or even eight months. Again, it depends on the complexity and gravity of the case. It also is dependent on how smoothly the court calendar proceeds. If a defense attorney or prosecutor gets sick or goes on vacation, for example, it could be postponed. Or, the people involved may have mutually exclusive schedules.

Gutierrez's fitness hearing, originally set for Oct. 8, has been postponed.

It's now set for Monday.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Billotta expects Gutierrez to be tried as an adult. He also expects him to be tried with the other defendants, which would save money. But it's possible the judge could order him tried separately. A separate trial would cost more, because many of the resources spent on the one trial would have to be duplicated in the other.

If the boy is tried as a minor, his case would proceed separately in Juvenile Court.

Delays are the rule

The three adults were arraigned in Long Beach Municipal Court a few days after they were arrested the night of the killing on Sept. 7. All three pleaded not guilty.

The next step, the preliminary hearing, took place Oct. 22 after a few postponements. Each time, the defendants were bused to Long Beach. At one such non-event, a judge, five lawyers, several courtroom bailiffs, a court clerk and a court reporter dealt with the matter for the better part of an hour.

The purpose of the preliminary hearing is to give the Municipal Court judge the opportunity to determine if sufficient evidence exists to send the case to Superior Court for arraignment in that court and trial. The answer – as it usually is -- was yes. And again the defendants pleaded not guilty.

The trial is supposed to occur within 60 days of the preliminary hearing.

Occasionally that happens, but the waiting period is often much longer.

Delays are the rule in court. They could be caused by vacations, illness, holidays, or the parties being called away on other cases. One thing is certain: Virtually no one involved in this case expects it to start on time.

One defense attorney says it will be at least six months before the trial can begin.

The lawyers involved in this case expect the trial to last one to three weeks. The average length of a murder trial in Los Angeles County is 11 days.

Each of the defendants is entitled to his own counsel. The courts have determined that the defense attorneys in a case cannot come from the same agency; that could constitute a conflict of interest, or, at least the appearance of a conflict. Hence, if the Public Defender's Office represents one defendant, it cannot be assigned to another. The court has established an Alternate Public Defender's Office to avoid such conflicts, but in a case with four defendants, obviously that doesn't solve the problem. So private attorneys are appointed to represent some defendants. Another reason the court may appoint a private attorney may be simply that the Public Defender's Office or Alternate Public Defender is swamped and can't take on any more cases at a particular time.

Last year, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office tried 395 murder trials, and, according to the latest figures for 1996, that pace is continuing. During the first six months of this year, the office tried 198 murder cases.

But the legal expenses are only part of the costs. If the four defendants in the Martine Perry case are convicted and serve 20 years in prison, the state would spend at least $1.7 to keep them behind bars at today's costs.