Reiner Attacks Judge, Appeals Grocer’s Term as Too Lenient : Courts: Petition asks that a prison sentence be imposed. Jurist’s backers accuse district attorney of trying to further his political ambitions.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner on Friday appealed a Superior Court judge’s controversial decision to place a Korean-born grocer on probation for killing a 15-year-old black girl, a sentence he called “leniency outside the bounds of reason.”

Reiner’s unusual attack on Judge Joyce A. Karlin came just hours after a group of her supporters criticized the district attorney for allegedly harassing the judge for reasons that have more to do with politics than justice.

The district attorney’s office filed a 100-page petition with the 2nd District Court of Appeal, declaring that Karlin had “defied the jury’s verdict” in the highly publicized case by not sentencing grocer Soon Ja Du to prison after her November conviction for voluntary manslaughter.

The petition asked the appeals court to reverse the sentence and order Karlin to impose a state prison term.

Karlin’s sentence created an uproar in the black community and put the judge at the center of a political firestorm. The 40-year-old former federal prosecutor, who has been a judge since September, has been the target of protests and death threats. Community activists have mounted a recall campaign in an attempt to drive her from her job, and Reiner has ordered his deputies to remove her from any case that involves a violent crime.

On Friday, at a news conference in a Wilshire Boulevard law office, Karlin’s supporters struck back.

Attorney Charles T. Mathews--who said he was speaking for a grass-roots group of 163 people, most of them lawyers--accused Reiner of endangering the judge’s life and called for the district attorney to resign.

Reiner’s comments about the Du case, Mathews said, “have clearly encouraged people to tee off on Judge Karlin, to threaten her. He has aided and abetted a campaign of harassment against her, instead of telling the truth about the sentence to the public, instead of telling the truth about the fairness of the trial.”

The district attorney replied by telling reporters it was Mathews, and not he, who had encouraged death threats by publicly discussing them.

Mathews, a former deputy district attorney who is now a defense lawyer, said he formed the grass-roots committee to support both Karlin and Superior Court Presiding Judge Ricardo Torres. Torres also became the target of a recall petition after he angered Karlin’s critics by refusing to reassign the judge from hearing criminal matters.

Mathews also criticized Reiner for appealing the Du sentence, saying the effort would probably fail and waste taxpayers’ money. “When the decision comes down from the court of appeals affirming Judge Karlin’s ruling,” Mathews said, “I hope he’s willing to hand us (taxpayers) his personal check for the cost of paying for that appeal.”

The appeal did draw praise from lawyer Leon Jenkins, who represents the family of Latasha Harlins, the girl killed by Du in March after the grocer accused her of shoplifting a $1.79 bottle of orange juice.

“I think it’s the right thing to do,” Jenkins said. “It goes to show that there are some people out here that still take a stand for justice.”

Karlin could not be reached for comment on Reiner’s appeal. But earlier this week, she issued her first public statement since the controversy over the Du case erupted.

While the statement did not address her decision in the Du case, it did suggest that she does not intend to lose her judgeship without a fight. She described the recall petitions being circulated as “an attack on the Constitution and the independence of judges who protect your rights.”

Karlin also revealed that she has hired the political consulting firm of Cerrell Associates to work on her campaign for election in June. The statement, which was released by the firm, must be attached to the recall petitions.

“Do not be misled by hate campaigns and attacks on the judiciary,” Karlin wrote. “Support competence, public safety and an independent judiciary.”

The Du case not only embroiled Karlin in controversy but heightened tensions between blacks and Korean-Americans doing business in the city’s minority communities. The case turned on a graphic videotape that showed Du and Latasha struggling over the orange juice. The tape shows the girl placing the bottle on the counter and walking away. The grocer then reaches for a gun and shoots her once in the back of the head.

Karlin gave Du a 10-year suspended prison sentence, along with five years of probation, a $500 fine and 400 hours of community service. In making her decision, the judge cited Du’s lack of a criminal record and noted that the gun Du had used had been altered to give it a “hairpin trigger.”

The petition also argued that Karlin misunderstood a state law requiring prison terms for those convicted of committing crimes with guns. Karlin argued that the law did not apply to Du because it is “aimed at criminals who arm themselves and go out and commit crimes.”