Theft Suspect’s Killer Fined Over Gun

An 81-year-old man who killed a robbery suspect in a Beverly Hills apartment building on New Year’s Eve was fined $100 Friday for illegal possession of the weapon he used.

Beverly Hills Municipal Court Commissioner John Murphy levied the fine on Thomas Clarence Korshak, who, through his attorney, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.

Murphy also ordered the weapon --a .38-caliber revolver--destroyed.

Korshak, a retired jewelry merchant who reportedly is in frail health, was also placed on probation for a year and ordered not to obtain a replacement gun.

In a statement to the court, Korshak’s attorney, Donald Wager, said that his client “does not wish his conduct to be taken as an example that anyone should . . . necessarily follow in the future. He does not encourage anybody to violate the law.”

Wager also said that his client, who did not appear in court, wished to thank Beverly Hills police and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office for the professionalism, the kindness shown to him, and the assessment that he had, as he maintained, acted in self-defense.