Conviction in ’83 killing overturned

LOS ANGELES – A federal judge on Friday overturned the conviction of a Los Angeles man serving a life sentence for his mother’s death, saying the man was convicted on false evidence and that his attorney failed to adequately represent him at trial.

U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips concluded that Bruce Lisker, 44, should be retried or set free. In a telephone interview from his prison near Sacramento, Lisker said, “Oh my God, I am absolutely elated.”

Lisker was arrested at age 17 on the afternoon of his mother’s stabbing in 1983. Two detailed reports by magistrate judge Ralph Zarefsky found in March that faulty evidence was used to convict Lisker in 1985. Phillips’ ruling accepted those findings.

The report found that the Los Angeles police investigation of the slaying was sloppy and incomplete.