3 Deputies Go to Court, Regain Right to Carry Guns

Three Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who lost the right to carry firearms under a new federal law because they had been convicted of domestic violence charges are back on the job with full police powers. The reason: They have gone to court and had their misdemeanor convictions expunged.

A fourth deputy, who has not had his conviction overturned, has been placed on administrative duties, sheriff’s officials said Wednesday. The officials declined to identify the four deputies.

The cases represent the first test in the Sheriff’s Department of a 1996 gun control law that prohibits people with misdemeanor domestic violence convictions from carrying firearms.

In December, three deputies filed suit in federal court in an unsuccessful attempt to block enforcement of the law. Attorneys for the deputies and union officials argued that the law unfairly targeted military officers and law enforcement personnel by denying them the ability to work.

It remained unclear Wednesday whether the three plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit were the same whose convictions were recently expunged. However, one source familiar with the case said that the three plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit had also filed petitions in state court to have their convictions cleared.

The Sheriff’s Department’s Internal Investigations Bureau is conducting a survey to determine which of its deputies have been convicted of domestic abuse violations. A records check by the state Department of Justice found that 16 sworn officers had been arrested on suspicion of committing domestic violence. Department investigators have not yet determined how many of those arrests led to criminal charges, officials said.

Another 15 sworn personnel have previous arrests for battery and other crimes that “could be construed as falling within the guidelines of the federal statute,� said Deputy Michael Irving, a department spokesman. All of the arrests were for misdemeanors, Irving said.

The department has not yet determined how many have convictions that would fall under the federal law.

A similar probe in the Los Angeles Police Department found that as many as 80 officers were involved in domestic abuse accusations. The LAPD has formed a task force to see how the cases were handled and how many officers must surrender their weapons.

Penny Harrington, the director of the National Center for Women and Policing, said Wednesday that recent studies have shown that as many as 40% of police officer families have suffered some form of domestic violence.

Harrington, the former police chief of Portland, Ore., added that even when officers are tried and found guilty of such charges, judges regularly expunge the convictions.

“You go back to the judge that sentenced you . . . you bring your wife along and say everything is fine,� Harrington said.

Feminist activists question whether the relatively low number of abuse prosecutions in the 8,300-member LAPD may reflect a law enforcement culture in which domestic violence is often treated as a matter of internal discipline.

Department officials “cover it up and treat is as misconduct,� said Harrington. “They get a reprimand or a small suspension, but they never get into the judicial system.�

Civil rights attorney Carol Watson, a longtime department observer, said, “If [deputies] can avoid taking a complaint from a spouse, they will.�

Sgt. Robert Stoneman, a sheriff’s spokesman, said the department always initiates a criminal investigation when deputies are summoned to a domestic violence complaint involving department personnel. “They go to the house and do what they have to do. It would be 100% criminal investigation.�

Times staff writer Tina Daunt contributed to this story.