A petition bearing 3,600 signatures asking a judge to sentence "Prison Break" actor Lane Garrison to prison for nearly seven years for killing a teenager in a drunken driving crash was refused by a Superior Court bailiff yesterday in Beverly Hills.

Friends and classmates of the dead teen gathered signatures after school, at football games, in front of stores and by going door to door, Lee said.

A bailiff explained the petition could not be accepted in court, but it would be accepted at the hearing if it was submitted through the district attorney's office, said James Lee, a spokesman for the teen's family.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office had not received the petition Tuesday but spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said it was not unusual for prosecutors to submit such private communications.

"Generally, if people have letters for the judge, they many, many times submit it to the prosecutor and the prosecutor presents it to the court," she said.

"Obviously, there's a sense that people want closure and they want justice and they want an appropriate punishment," Lee said. "We're talking about the loss of a life, here."

Garrison, 27, was driving a 2001 Land Rover on Dec. 2 when he lost control and rammed a tree. The crash killed his passenger Vahagn Setian, a Beverly Hills High School student. Two 15-year-old girls in the car survived.