Local News in Brief : Youth Pleads Innocent to Murder of Officer

One of two teen-agers charged with slaying a police officer in Sylmar last month pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder and assault charges, a prosecutor said.

Louis Belvin Jr., who turned 18 Tuesday, entered the plea before Eastlake Juvenile Court Commissioner Carl V. Moroney in the June 22 killing of Los Angeles Police Officer James H. Pagliotti, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Mitchel J. Harris.

Pagliotti was slain during a shoot-out with two teen-agers whom officers suspected of conducting a drug transaction in the Sylmar Square area. Both Belvin and the other suspect in the case, Thomas Lee Mixon, 19, were wounded in the incident.

Police believe that Belvin fired the shots that killed Pagliotti.

Mixon pleaded not guilty June 30 in San Fernando Municipal Court to a murder charge and felony charges of assault, conspiracy to sell drugs and selling cocaine. The assault charge against Mixon stems from an alleged altercation with a man moments before Pagliotti was shot.

The assault charge against Belvin stems from separate incident that took place April 2 in Carson in which two shots were fired at an adult male, Harris said. The district attorney’s office was about to file the assault charge when Belvin was arrested in connection with Pagliotti’s murder, he said.

A hearing to determine if Belvin will be tried as an adult is set for Aug. 28. He is being held without bail at County Jail.