L.A. courts bracing for loss of yet more security funds.

PREPARING for a projected $77.5 million cut in trial court funding this year, the Judicial Council of California has approved new budget alternatives that include likely cuts in security.

The Judicial Council, which administers the state's trial courts, allocated $28.8 million in new security funding for courts statewide while, at the same time, approving $22 million in ongoing reductions. Given those estimates, Los Angeles Superior Court would need to cut between $7 million and $13 million in security costs, according to court spokesman Allan Parachini.

"We have already made what we believe is about as much of a cut as we can sustain," he said. "Since October, we've had two tragic shootings immediately outside our facilities, one of which was a direct result of a case being litigated that day. Where we would find another $7 million to $13 million to cut, we don't know."

In an incident that received international attention, an enraged man who had been scheduled to appear in a contentious probate case shot a lawyer last Oct. 31 outside the Van Nuys courthouse. The man was wrestled to the ground by a Traffic Court judge as television news crews, covering the Robert Blake case, captured the shooting. The other incident involved the random shooting of a police officer about 25 feet from the Pomona Courthouse. He died at the scene.

To what extent stationing more sheriff's deputies at the courthouse would avert such shootings is a matter of conjecture, but the prospect of more cuts is likely to raise new concerns about safety.

Parachini could not say how the security cuts would affect courthouse operations, only adding, "it's unlikely that any lockups would close in the immediate future."

The Judicial Council also voted to establish a one-time $4 million fund for courts that "demonstrate an adverse impact on their court security plan," according to a Judicial Council press release.

In addition to security changes, the Judicial Council approved dipping into the reserve funds of 19 trial courts to reduce the one-time cuts by about $13.8 million. It's unclear which courts would provide those reserve funds.

Statewide, the Judicial Council anticipates $57.5 million in one-time cuts and $20 million in ongoing reductions in unallocated funding as part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed fiscal year 2004-05 state budget, which as of last week had yet to be approved by the California Legislature.

"The reserves they are talking about are those held by courts smaller than us," Parachini said. "We tapped out all our conceivable budget reserves last year and this fiscal year. We have no more reserves to give up."

The Judicial Council also approved a new method of allocating budget cuts to individual courts. In the past, cuts were prorated based on each court's share of the total state budget, with L.A. Superior Court typically taking the largest share of about one-third in cuts and allocations.

The new method, which is designed to ease the burden on courts most impacted by the budget crisis, would be based on a variety of factors, including the number and type of case filings. The Judicial Council estimates the new allocation would reduce by $15 million the estimated unallocated reductions.

Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at [phone], ext. 225, or at [e-mail].