The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES- The Los Angeles Police Department’s civilian watchdog is investigating whether a sergeant was improperly ordered last year to shut down a review of a 1985 murder conviction, according to a newspaper report.
The internal affairs sergeant uncovered new evidence that contradicted the case against Bruce Lisker, 39, who is serving a life sentence for murdering his mother, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Sunday edition.
The sergeant, Jim Gavin, also expressed concern that the LAPD detective who investigated the murder may have prematurely dismissed a second suspect and lied to prevent Lisker’s release on parole. Before Gavin could complete his work, he said he was ordered by superiors to stop investigating, the newspaper reported.
Inspector General Andre Birotte Jr., who reports to the Police Commission, confirmed that LAPD officials asked him to investigate the case. Michael Cherkasky, appointed by a federal judge to monitor the LAPD, also was reviewing the department’s handling of the matter.
Chief William J. Bratton declined comment.
The newspaper last month reported that new evidence and findings contradicted a prosecutor’s claim that Lisker beat and stabbed his mother, Dorka Lisker, in March 1983. Gavin had taken previously unexamined crime scene photographs to an LAPD analyst, who found that a bloody footprint left attributed to Lisker at trial did not match Lisker’s shoes.
Lisker has said the detective who arrested him, Andrew Monsue, failed to investigate another suspect and solicited perjured testimony from a jailhouse informant. Monsue denies wrongdoing.
Lisker twice confessed to killing his mother over the years. He now says the confessions were attempts to minimize his jail time for a crime he didn’t commit.