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ByDonThompson TheAssociatedPress SACRAMENTO Violentand property crimes dropped significantly across Cali- fornia last year, the state attorney general said. The violent crime rate per 100,000 residents de- creased to its lowest level since 1967, the state De- partment of Justice said in a new report posted on its website. Violent crimes were down 6.5 percent from 2012, while property crimes were down nearly 4 percent over the same period. The crime rate has been under closer scrutiny since a criminal justice re- form pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown took effect three years ago. Under the realignment, lower-level criminals are sentenced to county jails instead of state prisons. Critics have said the re- sulting jail overcrowding is forcing many counties to release dangerous fel- ons early. The drop in property crimes includes a nearly 3 percent drop in auto thefts, which had jumped nearly 14 percent in 2012. An independent study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of Califor- nia in December blamed the previous increase in auto thefts in part on the realignment that began in October 2011. Property crime had in- creased nearly 7 percent in the first year of the criminal justice changes, while violent crime was up nearly 3 percent that year before declining in 2013. "Any drop in crime is good news, of course," said Kent Scheidegger, le- gal director for the conser- vative Criminal Justice Le- gal Foundation, which has been critical of the state's criminal justice changes. He noted that property crime is still somewhat above what it was before realignment, and said it is unclear how much of the drop is the result of state policies and how much re- flects national trends. "A couple years' data points don't give us defin- itive answers," Scheidegger said. Linda Penner, chair- woman of the Board of State and Community Cor- rections and Brown's pub- lic safety liaison, also said the drop is good news but cautioned that it is too soon to attribute the de- crease to any one factor. A separate California Department of Justice re- port found that the num- ber of hate crimes dropped more than 7 percent last year. REPORT Attorney general says crime down across California By Amy Taxin The Associated Press BELL GARDENS An attor- ney for the wife of a sub- urban Los Angeles mayor who was fatally shot at his home said Thursday his cli- ent was a victim of domestic violence but he gave no de- tails of how that might have played a role in the deadly incident. Lawyer Eber Bayona said Levette Crespo has cooper- ated with authorities since the outset and was released after questioning. There has been no arrest and no criminal charges thus far. "I think the evidence will corroborate that she has been a victim of domestic violence for many years," Bayona said. Los Angeles County sher- iff's officials say Levette Crespo shot her husband, Bell Gardens Mayor Dan- iel Crespo, several times Tuesday after he got into a physical altercation with their 19-year-old son. The 45-year-old mayor was pro- nounced dead at a hospital. Sheriff'sspokeswomanNi- cole Nishida said there were no prior calls concerning do- mestic violence at the home. The front door was marked with a wreath on Wednesday and neighbors had only positive things to say about the family. "He was such an awe- some person. He was for- ever walking around, talk- ing with people, house to house," said a neighbor, re- tiree Florence Chavez. Bayona told reporters that looks may be deceiv- ing. "In this case there may be an opportunity to learn about the difficult and in- tolerable home life for this family," he said without pro- viding specifics. Claudia Osuna, a law- yer for the Crespos' two adult children, said her cli- ents were standing by their mother. She stated that the son also was a victim of do- mestic violence. A biography on the Bell Gardens website said the Crespos were high school sweethearts who married as teenagers in 1986. They also have a grown daughter. Authorities believe the two were fighting when their son, Daniel, tried to intervene and got into a struggle with his father, sheriff's Deputy Crystal Hernandez said. His mother then got a gun and opened fire, Hernandez said. Bell Gardens, a city of about 43,000, is one of a se- ries of nondescript suburbs southeast of Los Angeles. BELL GARDENS Lawyer: Wife of mayor was domestic violence victim NICKUT—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Attorney Claudia Osuna holds a photo of the Crespo family — from top le to bottom right, Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo, his daughter Crystal, his wife Levette and son Daniel Crespo Jr. — during a news conference in Bell Gardens on Thursday. The Associated Press FRESNO Deputies have arrested four young men — one adult and three ju- veniles — suspected of breaking into a Foster Farms chicken ranch and killing more than 900 birds with a golf club in California. Fresno County sheriff's officials acting on several tips Wednesday tracked down 18-year-old Gabriel Quintero of Riverdale. Also taken into custody were two 17-year-olds and a 15-year- old. All have been booked on charges of burglary and felony cruelty to animals. Fresno Sheriff's Depart- ment spokesman Chris- tian Curtice said he can- not release information about what prompted the killing of the chickens. He didn't anticipate any more arrests and said he did not know if the suspects had attorneys. Investigators say the sus- pects pulled back a fence on Sept. 20 to break into a barn south of Fresno. Once inside they beat 920 chick- ens to death with a golf club and possibly another blunt instrument, investigators said. The suspects were caught by detectives from a spe- cial Fresno-based agricul- ture task force, a sheriff's unit established to investi- gate farming-related crimes in the nation's leading agra- business county, with $5 billion in annual revenues. Not all the chickens at the facility were killed, said Foster Farms spokes- man Ira Bell, noting the barns typically have sev- eral thousand chickens in- side. He said Thursday that as a chicken producer cer- tified by the American Hu- mane Association, the com- pany takes the incident se- riously. 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