Reiner Backs Off From Plan to Block Karlin : Courts: D.A. says he will decide case by case whether to remove judge from criminal trials. His earlier pledge drew heavy criticism.

Backing down from his hard-line stance, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner announced Monday that he has abandoned his plan to disqualify from all criminal cases a Superior Court judge who gave probation to a Korean-born grocer convicted of killing a black teen-ager.

Instead, Reiner said he has instructed his deputies to decide on a case-by-case basis whether to remove Judge Joyce A. Karlin, “with special attention to cases involving armed and violent offenders.”

Reiner, whose pledge to effectively boycott Karlin drew heavy criticism from the legal community, said he decided to change course after meeting over the weekend with presiding Judge Ricardo Torres.

In his announcement Monday, the district attorney also hinted that Karlin might be removed from criminal cases in any event. He noted that Torres intends to announce assignments for all judges, including Karlin, on Wednesday. As a Superior Court Judge, Karlin is eligible to be assigned to civil or juvenile cases as well as criminal matters.

But a spokeswoman for Torres said that the judge has “given no indication one way or the other” that he intends to reassign Karlin. Last week, Torres vowed to do whatever he could to permit Karlin to continue to hear criminal cases. Torres could not be reached for comment.

Reiner announced his retreat on Karlin’s first day on the bench since a firestorm erupted over her sentencing of grocer Soon Ja Du. The judge, who has been the target of protests, sat in her regular courtroom on the 10th floor of the Compton courthouse amid heightened security. At least four plainclothes sheriff’s deputies kept watch in the courtroom as Karlin handled routine matters.

Before taking the bench, Karlin met briefly in her chambers with reporters who have been pressing her for interviews since the Nov. 15 sentencing. She said she has no intention of discussing the Du case, and while she would like to answer other questions, she said she was awaiting guidance from Torres and others.

Karlin--who had been attending a judicial conference all last week--entered the courtroom at 11 a.m., two hours after the court’s usual starting time. She would not say why she was late, but prosecutors said it was uncharacteristic of her. One court bailiff said he believed that the judge was waiting to hear from Torres before taking the bench.

The 40-year-old former federal prosecutor--who has been on the Superior Court bench two months--sentenced Du, 50, to five years’ probation, a $500 fine and 400 hours of community service in the killing of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins. The sentence prompted vows from some community activists to picket Karlin’s Manhattan Beach house and to drive her from the bench and heightened tensions between blacks and Korean-Americans. Another anti-Karlin rally is set for Wednesday in Compton.

After the sentencing, Reiner created a firestorm of his own by announcing that he would use “affidavits of removal” to prevent Karlin from hearing any criminal cases. Under California law, attorneys may remove a judge before the start of a trial without giving a reason.

The district attorney, who is facing reelection next year, immediately became the target of harsh criticism from judges, defense lawyers and some black community leaders--including some of the people who protested Karlin’s sentence.

One of the harshest critics was Torres. Over the weekend, the presiding judge asked Reiner to reconsider the so-called “blanket affidavit” policy, saying that it could create a logjam in the courts. The meeting produced an exchange of letters between the two men Monday morning.

In the first letter, Torres told Reiner that “it would be very constructive in maintaining the excellent rapport between the Superior Court and the district attorney’s office if you would agree to be selective” in removing Karlin from criminal cases.

Reiner replied by thanking Torres for his “gracious and conciliatory efforts” and agreed to evaluate each case individually. Then, in a humorous postscript, the district attorney added: “Now you should consider lending your considerable diplomatic talents toward resolving the Middle East crisis.”

Just as Reiner’s initial announcement created controversy, his decision to back down from use of the blanket affidavit brought criticism.

“I don’t understand that,” said Compton Councilwoman Patricia Moore, who said she had come to the courthouse to ask Karlin not to hear any more criminal cases. “She needs to be removed from her position and the effort to do that needs to start with the district attorney’s office.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gilbert Garcetti, who intends to challenge Reiner in next year’s race for district attorney, said Reiner should have been more selective in the first place. “Reiner should not have had to wait for a request from Judge Torres before selecting the case-by-case process,” Garcetti said.

However, Brotherhood Crusade President Danny Bakewell, who has been leading protests against Karlin and who avidly supported the blanket affidavit policy, was uncharacteristically subdued in his remarks.

Rather than criticize Reiner, Bakewell said that many in Los Angeles’ black community supported the attempt to keep Karlin off all criminal cases, and said the district attorney’s retreat may be “more palatable in the legal community.”

Bakewell added: “We would encourage him to invoke the affidavit process as often as it even remotely seems appropriate in dealing with Judge Karlin.”

On Monday, before he got the word about Reiner’s new decree, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Wallace, who handles cases in Karlin’s courtroom, disqualified Karlin from at least three coming trials. Karlin referred the matters to other judges.

She did handle several sentencings, including one involving a black man who had assaulted a Korean-born merchant, allegedly breaking a wine bottle over the merchant’s head. Under a plea-bargain arrangement that was agreed to by the defense and prosecution, the judge sentenced the defendant to serve one year in jail.

After the sentencing, reporters swarmed around defense lawyer James Brewer, who said the jail time was appropriate for his client. Brewer said he agreed to the plea-bargain before Karlin issued her controversial probation sentence to Du. He also noted that unlike the grocer, his client has a criminal record.

But Moore, the Compton councilwoman, said afterward that she was outraged.

“I’m angry. I’m very angry,” Moore said. “Is hitting a person over the head with a bottle of wine worse than shooting someone in the back of the head?”

Times staff writer Eric Malnic contributed to this article.