Courts, Rulings & Lawsuits | |
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Appeals court ruling in San Diego case lifts ban on frequent gun purchases, for now
California residents can purchase firearms as frequently as they want for the time being while a federal appeals court considers the constitutionality of state laws that had limited residents to no more than one gun purchase every 30 days, a federal appellate panel ruled Thursday. A U.S. district judge in San Diego had previously overturned California’s “one-gun-a-month” laws in March, ruling that such restrictions were unconstitutional.
San Diego Union-Tribune
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Public employers are exempt from PAGA penalty suits
The California Supreme Court held yesterday that public employers, including a county’s public hospital authority, are exempted from Labor Code provisions governing rest and meal break violations and are not subject to penalties for the infractions under the Private Attorneys General Act. The decision comes in a case brought by two former employers of Highland Hospital, a facility operated by Alameda Health System (“AHS”), alleging that the facility frequently denied or discouraged the taking of meal and rest breaks and automatically deducted 30 minutes from each workday even when meal periods were not taken.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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L.A. County’s court reporter shortage worsening
The Superior Court of Los Angeles County unveiled Thursday a Court Reporter Crisis Dashboard, available [here], which highlights the staggering number of court proceedings in Los Angeles County that have taken place without any verbatim record because of the well-documented court reporter shortage and continued statutory restrictions on electronic recording, as well as outcome data relating to the Court’s extraordinary efforts to recruit and retain court reporters to fill its over 125 vacancies, Presiding Judge Samantha P. Jessner and Executive Officer/Clerk of Court David W. Slayton announced.
Superior Court of Los Angeles County Press Release
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California appeals court reverses November ballot label rewrite
California’s Third District Court of Appeal on Tuesday overturned a decision made last week by a lower court, ruling that the ballot label for a November voter initiative needs no rewrite. The appeals court issued its ruling just days after a Sacramento County Superior Court judge had ruled against the authors of Proposition 5. That proposition, if passed, would lower the threshold needed to pass certain general obligation bonds for housing and infrastructure projects from two-thirds to 55%.
Courthouse News Service
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Supreme Court blocks temporary enforcement of expanded protections for transgender students
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the Biden administration’s request to be allowed to temporarily enforce most of an April 2024 rule implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding, while its appeals continued. Friday’s ruling leaves in place for now decisions by federal appeals courts that barred the Biden administration from enforcing any portion of the rule, including three provisions that target discrimination against transgender people in schools.
SCOTUS Blog
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Court to California: Try a privacy law, not online censorship
In a victory for free speech and privacy, a federal appellate court confirmed last week that parts of the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act likely violate the First Amendment, and that other parts require further review by the lower court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit correctly rejected rules requiring online businesses to opine on whether the content they host is “harmful” to children, and then to mitigate such harms.
Electronic Frontier Foundation
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Ninth Circuit affirms monitor’s authority in Maricopa County racial profiling case
The Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed an Arizona federal judge’s delegation of decision-making authority to a court-appointed monitor in a nearly two-decade class action over racial profiling by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. In his third injunctive order since finding that then-county Sheriff Joe Arpaio implemented racist policies of “immigration sweeps” in which Latinos were disproportionately detained on suspicion of non-citizenship, U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow vested authority in a third-party monitor to decide when and how to intake and route misconduct complaints in an effort to catch up with a growing backlog of complaint investigations.
Courthouse News Service
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US appeals court says inmate can't sue over guard's sexual assault
A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday rejected a bid by a federal inmate to sue prison officials after a guard allegedly sexually assaulted him, saying the current U.S. Supreme Court disfavors creating new avenues for people to sue federal officials for damages. A three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that inmate John Kalu could not pursue his claims under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents.
Reuters
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LA County assistant district attorney, accused of improper use of private data, must stand trial
A Los Angeles County assistant district attorney who was in charge of ethics and integrity operations for the office was ordered on Tuesday, Aug. 20, to stand trial on six felony counts for alleged unauthorized use of data from confidential police officer files. Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta dismissed two other identical felony counts against Diana Teran. Three other counts against Teran were dismissed earlier this month at the request of the California Attorney General’s Office, which is prosecuting the case.
City News Service
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LA District Attorney ethics aide collecting $320K salary despite felony charges
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon’s senior ethics aide has received at least two months of her $320,000 salary since felony charges were filed against her by the California Attorney General for allegedly improperly using confidential records when creating a list of disreputable police officers to ban from use as witnesses. If the LADA’s office is paying for her criminal defense - which is yet unknown as the office has not responded to a public records request on the matter - taxpayers could be paying for both prosecution and defense in this case.
The Center Square
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Men charged with murder in Johnny Wactor’s death implicated themselves in jailhouse talk, sources say
Prosecutors on Monday charged two men with known associations to a notorious South Los Angeles street gang with murder in the death of “General Hospital” actor Johnny Wactor after the suspects implicated themselves during jailhouse discussions, sources told The Times. Two other men were also charged with lesser crimes in connection with Wactor’s death, authorities said.
Los Angeles Times
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Lawsuit: LA Deputy DA alleges Gascón retaliated against him for criticizing handling of child molester case
Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney (DDA) Shea Sanna filed a lawsuit against DA George Gascón on Aug. 13 alleging that the DA engaged in workplace retaliation against him over criticizing, among other things, Gascón ’s handling of a child molester case. The lawsuit states that it all began when Sanna was assigned to the case of James Tubbs, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl at a Denny’s bathroom in Palmdale on New Year’s Day 2014 and is a suspect in two other cases of child sexual assault, one of them with a four-year-old girl.
Jewish Journal
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LAPD voiced concerns about city attorney’s push to charge a protester, memo says
Earlier this year, high-level officials in the Los Angeles Police Department asked for a meeting with city prosecutors to discuss a source of friction between their two offices. Los Angeles City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto had been pushing for criminal charges against a man she suspected was among the pro-Palestinian protesters who sprayed red paint and set off smoke devices outside the Brentwood home of a prominent Jewish civic leader, according to a memo summarizing the March 7 meeting.
Los Angeles Times
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San Francisco FBI theft: Stolen gear traded for meth, Feds say
A man has been charged with breaking into an FBI vehicle parked on a San Francisco street and stealing government property, including flash-bang grenades and surveillance equipment, which he then swapped for $20 worth of drugs, federal prosecutors said this week. Gregory Acosta Alvarez was arrested after allegedly burglarizing an FBI-issued Ford F-150 truck parked in the SoMa neighborhood on Aug. 7. Authorities say Alvarez stole dozens of items, including 23 flash-bang grenades, a gas deployment gun and a ballistic vest.
San Francisco Standard
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Four Girardi Keese lawyers named as targets as prosecution rests
The federal government is investigating four senior lawyers who worked at the now-bankrupt Girardi Keese firm, an IRS special agent testified Monday shortly before federal prosecutors rested their case against Thomas V. Girardi. Robert Finnerty, Christopher Aumais, Keith Griffin, and Girardi’s son-in-law David Lira have received target letters from the federal government, meaning they could be charged with a crime, said IRS Special Agent Ryan Roberson, although he didn’t specify when the letters were sent.
Bloomberg Law
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Santa Clara County DA Rosen’s flawed arguments to overturn murderers’ death sentences
Bait and switch. That’s how Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen got a judge to strike the death sentences of two murderers this month. The victims’ surviving next-of-kin showed up in force to object, but their pleas made no difference. How did evil murderers come to be spared the punishment their juries decided they richly deserve while compounded misery is heaped on bereft families of innocent victims?
The Mercury News
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Gascon’s big behind: LA Times poll has Gascon down two-to-one
It was not a good morning for Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon. Though he almost certainly knew the numbers beforehand, there is something about seeing in print that you are getting clobbered in the polls that really brings the pain home. A Los Angeles Times/UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll shows that about 20% of voters are planning to vote for him in November. His challenger Nathan Hochman’s number?
California Globe
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New poll shows most California voters want to see tougher punishment for theft, fentanyl crimes
A majority of likely California voters support stiffer penalties for crimes involving theft and fentanyl, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by The Times. The results of the poll released Friday showed that 56% of Californians would support Proposition 36, an initiative on the November ballot that would impose stricter sentences for repetitive theft and offenses involving the deadly drug fentanyl.
Los Angeles Times
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Newsom’s latest effort to derail crime-fighting ballot initiative
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will today enact a package of bills to combat retail theft, the latest gambit in a desultory, nearly year-long effort by statewide Democrats to sap momentum from a tough-on-crime initiative. The bills Newsom signs into law will pursue many of the same aims as Proposition 36, which rolls back parts of a decade-old criminal justice reform measure by increasing penalties for certain theft and drug offenses, without requiring voter approval.
Politico
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UC President orders new rules on encampments, masks as students return to school
University of California President Michael V. Drake directed campus leaders on Monday to communicate and enforce rules on protest encampments as students prepare to return to class after last spring’s demonstrations against the war in Gaza. In a letter to the chancellors of the 10 UC campuses, which does not specifically mention the last year’s protests or violence at some schools, Drake outlined required policies that ban putting up tents and campsites on university property, blocking access to university buildings and masking to evade being recognized.
KQED
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Sovereign immunity bars suit over allegedly contaminated shipyard
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday that sovereign immunity bars a class action by San Francisco Police Department officers against the U.S. alleging various tort claims relating to the lease of an allegedly contaminated Navy shipyard to the city for use as an outdoor training facility. Contamination, according to the pleading, is due to the former presence of a research laboratory tasked with the decontamination of radioactive vessels used in nuclear tests.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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In stunning testimony, Girardi says he'd 'go crazy' if he knew of accountant's theft
In a sensational twist to his federal criminal trial, disbarred lawyer and former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills husband Tom Girardi testified Thursday he never stole from his clients but “liens” and “holdback” prevented them from getting their money all at once. “As i sit here every single client, and I swear to you, got every single penny they were supposed to get,” Girardi testified in U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton’s courtroom in Los Angeles.
Legal Affairs and Trials with Meghann Cuniff
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Brothers say an LAPD street racing officer caused high-speed crash that left them with serious injuries
Two brothers critically injured after their car was struck by an LAPD patrol car in Encino in June have filed a negligence lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and the LAPD, alleging the officer who was driving was needlessly speeding at 80 mph just before the impact. Stephen and Richard Paper, 74 and 76, were in a Toyota Camry that was broadsided by the LAPD cruiser traveling southbound on Balboa Boulevard as the brothers made a left turn to go west on Burbank Boulevard.
NBC4
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‘A shock to us all’: LAPD moves to fire supervisors of troubled Mission gang unit
A year after Los Angeles police officers from an anti-gang unit in the San Fernando Valley were accused of illegally searching vehicles and stealing from people they pulled over, an internal department email shows three of their supervisors now face termination. Interim Chief Dominic Choi has called for the firing of a captain, a lieutenant, and a sergeant in the LAPD’s Mission Division, according to the email and multiple sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about police personnel matters.
Los Angeles Times
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Los Angeles allegedly plans to spend $500K to install Olympic flags at City Hall
The 2024 Paris Olympics just ended, making way for the 2028 Games returning to Los Angeles. However, the "City of Angels" is not waiting four years to start preparing for everything to come. Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia claims Los Angeles intends on installing Olympic flags at City Hall, and it will cost $500,000 to do so.
Fox News
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FBI raids home of Orange County supervisor's daughter
The FBI on Thursday raided a Tustin home owned by an Orange County supervisor's daughter, who was named in a lawsuit that accuses her and a nonprofit of misusing millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds. Orange County last week sued Supervisor Andrew Do's 23-year-old daughter, Rhiannon Do, and the nonprofit she works for, Viet America Society, to recover more than $13 million.
ABC7
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City of Long Beach to clear out homeless encampments
Homeless people refusing to leave certain encampments in Long Beach could be cited and arrested as the city begins cleaning up certain areas Monday. This comes after a Supreme Court ruling removing barriers to clearing encampments. Gov. Gavin Newsom has also threatened to withhold funding from cities not taking steps to address homelessness. The city of Long Beach says they will continue to take a human-centered approach to homelessness but the potential for law enforcement intervention is on the table.
NBC4
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LAPD and UCLA spent over half a million dollars on police overtime breaking up campus Gaza protests
The University of California Los Angeles campus police department and the Los Angeles Police Department spent more than $630,000 in overtime costs this spring breaking up protests and a campus Palestine solidarity encampment, according to public records obtained by The Independent. Between April 25 and May 25, the campus police force spent $389,389 on overtime, while the LAPD paid out an estimated $243,444 in overtime between April 30 and May 7 – periods that corresponded with the most intense protest activity.
The Independent
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Measure to expand the LA County Board of Supervisors heads to the ballot. Here’s what you should know
A measure that would nearly double the size of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is headed to the ballot in November. Here’s a look at what residents should know before casting their votes. The powerful county board now has five members, who represent 2 million people each and oversee a $46 billion budget. The proposal, which supporters have said is long overdue, would increase the size of the board to nine members.
LAist
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Homeowner shoots attempted burglar in Cerritos
An attempted burglar was shot and wounded by a homeowner in Cerritos on Saturday. It happened at around 1:45 p.m. at a home in the 11000 block of Shasta Circle, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators. They arrived to find the suspect suffering from a gunshot wound, where he was treated by Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics before being taken to a hospital in critical condition.
KCAL News
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Mail theft victim mailed herself an Apple AirTag as bait. It worked
Two suspected mail thieves were thwarted by a tracking device and a Santa Barbara County woman who was fed up with her mail being stolen. On Monday, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies were called to the Los Alamos Post Office shortly after 7 a.m. for a report of mail theft. Thieves stole items from a woman’s post office box, and this was not the first time the box was hit, she told deputies.
Los Angeles Times
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New California laws aim to reduce smash-and-grab robberies, car thefts and shoplifting
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a bipartisan package of 10 bills that aims to crack down on smash-and-grab robberies and property crimes, making it easier to go after repeat shoplifters and auto thieves and increase penalties for those running professional reselling schemes. The move comes as Democratic leadership works to prove that they're tough enough on crime while trying to convince voters to reject a ballot measure that would bring even harsher sentences for repeat offenders of shoplifting and drug charges.
ABC News
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Crime was once California’s biggest political issue. It’s made a major comeback
There was a time, four-plus decades ago, when crime was California’s most powerful political issue. The state was experiencing a serious spike in crime but the Legislature, controlled by Democrats, ignored pleas to do something about it. Republicans sensed an opportunity and for more than a decade, while accusing Democrats of being soft on crime, scored a series of electoral victories.
CalMatters
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Harris campaign signals continued support for ending cash bail
The Harris campaign is signaling continued support for ending cash bail and bail reform as the vice president and former prosecutor faces scrutiny over past policies and positions related to crime and law enforcement. "Vice President Harris believes our criminal justice system should protect and serve all Americans, regardless of their economic status, gender, or race," James Singer, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, told Fox News Digital.
Fox News
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CHP is using and buying military equipment against state law
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is failing to comply with a three-year-old state law that requires California police agencies to make public their inventory of military and other advanced technical equipment. The law, AB481, also requires police agencies to make public their use policies for that equipment, as well as the steps for accountability should the equipment be misused.
Los Angeles Public Press
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Newly released docs show security plans ahead of Trump rally shooting
Records released on Friday shed new light on the security plan that was developed ahead of the Pennsylvania rally where former President Donald Trump was shot and a man was killed. "It's going to be a circus there," Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe wrote in an email on July 5, just over a week ahead of the July 13 rally. "Not enough room for the crowd that I believe will attend."
ABC News
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California lawmakers kill crime bills, keep reparations proposals alive
California lawmakers today weeded out hundreds of pricey proposals, including notable ones on crime and technology. As they culled about one-third of 830 bills, legislative committees killed one that aimed to prohibit broadband providers from charging more or offering slower Internet service in low-income areas, and another to bar law enforcement agencies from relying solely on facial recognition to arrest or search suspects.
CalMatters
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Former Girardi client says attorney’s obfuscations were like ‘reopening wounds that we were trying to close’
A former client of disgraced attorney Tom Girardi took the stand on Wednesday, the sixth day of the lawyer's criminal trial, and told the court about her year-long effort to recover settlement money owed to her by Girardi's firm. After Erika Saldana's one-year-old child was badly injured in a car crash caused by a drunk driver in 2015, she hired an attorney to sue both the driver and the manufacturer of the car seat.
Courthouse News Service
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Las Vegas police officials say the new NFL access policy compromises officers' privacy
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and union officials said they object to NFL access policies to certain areas of Allegiant Stadium and the union has urged its officers to not work Raiders home games after this weekend if the new arrangement remains in place. The NFL is using facial-recognition technology this season for those credentialed for games, including for players, media and vendors.
AP
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Former Aurora chief feels Todd Chamberlain hire is a good one: 'It’s exactly what Aurora needs’
During the past five years, the Aurora Police Department has been at the center of several controversies that led to leadership changes. On Thursday, Todd Chamberlain was officially introduced as the fifth chief to be sworn in over those past five years for a department that has struggled to locate and keep a qualified candidate. If confirmed by a majority of the Aurora City Council, Chamberlain would be sworn in on Sept. 9. Council members will consider his appointment during a meeting on Aug. 26.
ABC7 Denver
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Judge tosses George Santos’ copyright suit over Jimmy Kimmel prank videos
A federal judge on Monday dismissed a civil suit filed by expelled Representative George Santos, finding that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s prank videos of the disgraced former congressman fall under fair use and are protected against copyright infringement claims. The loss for Santos was made public hours before his expected guilty plea to criminal fraud charges in federal court on Long Island.
Courthouse News Service
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Convictions/Pleas/Sentences | |
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California school safety officer pleads no contest to voluntary manslaughter in fatal shooting of 18-year-old
A former California school safety officer has pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter nearly three years after he was charged with murder for fatally shooting an 18-year-old woman as she tried to flee a physical altercation, officials said Tuesday. Eddie Gonzalez is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 8 and faces either three or six years in prison, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office spokesperson Pamela J. Johnson told CNN.
CNN
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Ex-deputy sentenced to prison for abusing inmate while on duty in Central California
A former deputy with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office was sentenced to seven years in prison for dragging an inmate by her hair and throwing her into another jail cell in what the judge called a callous and "unreasonable" use of force. U.S. District Judge André Birotte Jr. said during the Thursday sentencing hearing for Joshua Fischer, 42, that he showed a "level of callousness" and "disdain" towards the woman, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.
KCAL News
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L.A. sheriff’s deputy sentenced to probation for assault on woman with mental disability
A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors more than three years after prosecutors say he assaulted a woman during a disturbance call and then lied about it in a report. Konrad Thieme was sentenced last week to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service for two counts of excessive force by a police officer, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in an email.
Los Angeles Times
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Violent extortionist targeting Koreatown karaoke bars gets 22 years in jail
A 39-year-old Los Angeles man has been sentenced to nearly 23 years in federal prison for dozens of felonies that involved extorting Koreatown karaoke businesses using methods seemingly ripped from gangster films. Woodland Hills resident Daekun Cho, 39, was convicted in March on 57 charges: 55 counts of interference with commerce by extortion, one count of attempted interference with commerce by extortion and one count of carjacking.
KTLA
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Tesla driver who smashed cars with a pipe in incidents of road rage could be paroled early
The Tesla driver who became notorious for violent, pipe-wielding incidents of road rage through video captured by a victim may be back on highways sooner than expected. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón described Nathaniel Radimak’s “reign of terror” when he was charged in January 2023. Now, the 37-year-old could be freed after serving less than a year of his five-year sentence, according to files from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Los Angeles Times
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