Courts, Rulings & Lawsuits | |
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Immunity upheld for shooting of compliant passenger
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday that qualified immunity protects officers who shot 34 rounds into a vehicle following a high-speed chase after the driver fired a gun, killing a police dog and injuring a policeman, although the plaintiff, who was seriously injured, was a passenger who was uninvolved in any wrongdoing and held her hands in the air during the interaction.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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DWP union sues city of L.A. over pension double-dipping
The union representing Los Angeles Department of Water and Power workers is suing the city for allowing employees who retired from other city departments to work at the utility while collecting a pension. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18, argues that the city charter prohibits those who retire with a pension through the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System from subsequently working as a DWP employee.
Los Angeles Times
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California Supreme Court rejects attorneys’ fees for employers in compelled arbitration
The California Supreme Court on Monday affirmed that employers can't seek attorneys' fees for forcing an employee to arbitrate their claims under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act against them. The state's top court largely upheld an appellate court decision that certain provisions of an arbitration agreement between Charter Communications and a former employee, including the one entitling Charter to its legal costs for compelling arbitration, are "substantively unconscionable" and can't be enforced.
Courthouse News Service
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S.C. vacates judgment of death in case of white supremacist gang member
A recent statutory change requires reversal of a judgment of death based on a gang murder special circumstance where no evidence was presented at trial that the supporting predicate offenses benefitted the criminal organization in a way that was more than reputational, the California Supreme Court held yesterday.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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L.A. officials continue to stall homeless housing project in Venice, new lawsuit claims
Advocates for low-income housing sued the city of Los Angeles this week, accusing City Councilmember Traci Park, City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto and other officials of violating fair housing laws by blocking a proposed affordable housing development in Venice. The project, known as the Venice Dell, includes 140 units of housing for low-income and formerly homeless residents on what’s now a city-owned parking lot along the neighborhood’s famed canals.
Los Angeles Times
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Mental health diversion may be granted while awaiting competency decision
Div. Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has held that a trial court has jurisdiction to grant mental health diversion - the postponement of prosecution, either temporarily or permanently, to allow for psychological treatment - in a criminal case after the proceedings have been suspended due to a pending competency hearing and before a determination on capacity is made.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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LA Co Superior Court judge publicly admonished for pattern of `poor demeanor’
A Los Angeles County judge was publicly admonished Thursday by a state agency for a pattern of improper conduct towards litigants in his courtroom. Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Griego’s misconduct included making discourteous, disparaging and gratuitous remarks to litigants, conveying the appearance of bias and raising his voice at parties appearing before him, according to the California Commission on Judicial Performance.
MyNewsLA
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Judge was obliged to honor concession by prosecution
There are times when it’s appropriate for judges to spurn a concession by the District Attorney’s Office, Div. Four of the First District Court of Appeal has observed, but, it declared, circumstances did not justify a San Francisco Superior Court judge declining to dismiss a misdemeanor driving-under-the influence prosecution where the People agreed with the defendant that her speedy-trial rights had been violated by a succession of delays.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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Federal appeals court says there is no fundamental right to change one’s sex on a birth certificate
A federal appeals court panel has ruled that Tennessee does not unconstitutionally discriminate against transgender people by not allowing them to change the sex designation on their birth certificates. “There is no fundamental right to a birth certificate recording gender identity instead of biological sex,” 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote for the majority in the 2-1 decision Friday upholding a 2023 district court ruling.
Los Angeles Times
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Ninth Circuit questions why California’s social media ‘transparency’ law isn’t compelled speech
A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel asked California on Wednesday why a state law requiring social media platforms to disclose their policies about moderating hate speech and disinformation doesn't amount to a violation of the First Amendment. The three-judge panel took up X Corp.'s appeal of a federal judge's refusal to block what California Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022 said was a first-of-its-kind social media transparency law to protect Californians from hate and disinformation spread online.
Courthouse News Service
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9th Circuit Appeals Court could revive civil rights lawsuit over LAPD killing
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has announced it will reconsider an opinion published earlier this year involving a fatal LAPD shooting, which could have expanded qualified immunity protections that shield police officers and their employers from civil liability. "It is ordered that this case be reheard en banc," Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia said in a brief order published Monday, meaning a panel of 11 judges of the 9th Circuit will hear the case.
NBC4
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Court of Appeal scolds lawyers over hard-hitting brief
Div. Four of the Court of Appeal for this district has reversed an order granting an anti-SLAPP motion, saying it is ordering publication of the opinion “to draw attention to our concluding note on civility and persuasive brief writing” in which it scolds the appellant’s lawyers for filing a spirited opening brief. That brief was signed by Westwood attorney Christopher Frost. John D. Maatta and Nicholas Lauber of his firm, FROST LLP, are also attorneys of record in the appeal.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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Gascón’s deputies allege bias against Jewish employees, Jewish community
A 30-year veteran of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office is speaking out against his boss, District Attorney George Gascón, alleging bias against the Jewish community. Brian Schirn, a deputy DA who runs the Narcotics Division, told the Journal of growing concern in the District Attorney’s office that Gascón is intentionally neglecting issues affecting Los Angeles’ Jewish community, as well as allegedly discriminating against Jewish staff.
Jewish Journal
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Seven-time felon charged with using machine gun in shooting that injured LAPD officers
A man whose record includes seven felony convictions now faces an attempted murder charge after prosecutors say he opened fire with a machine gun on two Los Angeles police officers, grazing one of them. Malcolm Darnell Guss Jr. is accused of using a fully automatic AR-style rifle to shoot at Officers Stefan Carutasu and Joshua Rodney after they tried to stop his white Chevrolet sedan at around 9:30 p.m. on July 3 in Willowbrook near Broadway and Rosecrans Avenue, just south of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Times
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Former L.A. city official charged by California State Bar in DWP scandal
The State Bar of California filed disciplinary charges last week against a former Los Angeles city official in connection with an alleged quid pro quo deal involving a city contract. William Funderburk, then serving as vice president of the L.A. Department of Water and Power Board of Commissioners, approved the $30-million deal around the same time that he solicited and received free legal work from the attorney who was awarded the contract, State Bar prosecutors alleged.
Los Angeles Times
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San Fernando Valley mother charged with murder after twin toddlers die from fentanyl
A San Fernando Valley mother whose 3-year-old twin sons died from fentanyl poisoning is facing murder charges in their deaths, prosecutors said Tuesday. Jestice James, 22, faces two counts of murder and two counts of child abuse or endangerment under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily harm or death after her son Josiah died on July 11 and his twin brother Jestine died two days later, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
KCAL News
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Man who slapped autistic boy at bus stop faces misdemeanor charges
The Los Angeles City Attorney filed misdemeanor charges against the man caught on video slapping an autistic boy at a bus stop a few weeks ago. In the video, Scott Sakajian slaps 10-year-old Alfred Morales after the boy touches the emblem on the front of his Mercedes-Benz while crossing the street with his sister. "The guy did a u-turn and returned back to smack Alfred, sadly," said Arturo Sanchez, uncle of the two children. "They were telling, yelling, 'You know that he has autism.'"
KCAL News
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Men stole 300 guns by smashing into stores with stolen vehicles: DOJ
Six men stole more than 300 guns during a nine-month burglary spree involving smashing into gun stores using stolen vehicles, officials said. These six men have been arrested and are scheduled to make their initial court appearances in Santa Ana on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. In a news release, federal prosecutors said the group struck nine stores “wherein they used stolen vehicles to ram into the storefronts, smashed display cases, and fled with the stolen firearms in other stolen vehicles.”
KTLA
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Crime on the rise in Los Angeles County
The California Department of Justice recently published its annual report on crime in California, which includes breakdowns by types of crime and jurisdiction. Statewide, the numbers are mixed. From 2022 to 2023, the number of reported violent crimes rose from 193,019 to 199,838, while the number of reported property crimes slightly declined from 902,977 to 888,840. In Los Angeles County, the reported number of both violent crimes and property crimes increased in that time period.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
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Judicial Council allocates funding to trial courts with $97 million required cut
The Judicial Council at its July 12 meeting approved funding allocations to the trial courts, which includes a $97 million reduction to local trial courts as required by the fiscal year 2024-25 budget. “What we are doing is making a decision in how to spread the reduction among all of the trial courts in the most fair manner possible,” said Judge Jonathan Conklin, chair of the council’s Trial Court Budget Advisory Committee.
California Courts News Release
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Burke public law update: U.S. Supreme Court rules anti-camping ordinances are enforceable
On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court decided City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson et al., a case which affects how public agencies may enforce anti-camping ordinances in their jurisdictions. This case provides important guidance to public agencies about the legality of enforcement options affecting homeless communities.
California City News
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Former top LAPD official found guilty of tracking a fellow officer with AirTag
Former Los Angeles assistant police chief Alfred “Al” Labrada has retired from the department after a disciplinary board found that he secretly tracked a fellow officer he was romantically involved with and then tried to cover his tracks, according to three sources familiar with the case.
Los Angeles Times
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Inside the Sheriff Department's secretive investigation into Villanueva's critics
A multi-year criminal investigation under former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva into the agency's inspector general - a probe that a legal advisor for the county called "not legally viable" - was based largely on unfounded accusations that state and federal prosecutors repeatedly turned down, documents reviewed by The Times show.
Los Angeles Times
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Mayor Karen Bass vetoes ballot proposal to let police chief fire problem officers
Mayor Karen Bass has vetoed a proposed ballot measure to rework the disciplinary process at the Los Angeles Police Department - a step that could result in its removal from the Nov. 5 ballot. In her veto letter to the City Council, Bass said the proposal, which would have allowed the police chief to fire officers accused of some types of serious misconduct, “risks creating bureaucratic confusion” within the LAPD.
Los Angeles Times
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LAPD still far from employment goal despite costly, generous pay raises for officers
The LAPD's sworn ranks currently stand at nearly 8,800 officers - far from the 9,000+ needed to be considered fully staffed. But even of the 8,800, how many cops are 'street ready?’ The department reports that more than 6,100 officers are working patrol beats, but Tom Saggau, a spokesperson for the Police Protective League, told KNX News' Craig Fiegener that when you break it all down, the number is much lower.
KNX News
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LA sued for stalling construction of supportive housing in Venice
The suit alleges LA City elected officials are engaging in housing discrimination by intentionally blocking administrative sign-offs for the Venice Dell project. A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court accuses LA city officials of obstructing a 140-unit affordable housing project in the affluent beachside community of Venice. It paints a picture of a series of administrative blocks that began soon after the November 2022 election of a new city councilmember for the area, Traci Park, and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto.
Los Angeles Public Press
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LA County juvenile hall back in state’s crosshairs over misleading documents given to inspectors
State inspectors have found the troubled Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall out of compliance with California’s minimum standards for the second time in a year after inspectors discovered Los Angeles County falsely said it had provided programs and activities for juveniles that, in fact, did not occur. State regulations require juvenile facilities to dedicate at least an hour per day to helping juveniles better themselves and to reducing recidivism.
Los Angeles Daily News
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LA Metro hopes to reduce fare evaders, preventing bigger crimes on transit system
Los Angeles County's Metro public transportation system continues to be plagued with safety concerns, even as ridership nears pre-pandemic levels. Violent crime spiked the past few months. Between March and April of this year, Metro says, there was a 16% increase in crimes committed against people. The three law enforcement agencies contracted to patrol Metro - the LAPD, county sheriff and Long Beach police - say 96% of the violent offenders arrested on the system between April 2023 and March 2024 didn't pay to ride.
ABC7
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Violent crime on Metro up 33% compared to pre-pandemic levels
After a Metro board member said she was too afraid to ride the system alone, new Board chair Janice Hahn climbed aboard to see the state of the public transportation that her father, Kenny Hahn, helped build. An analysis of the last 12 months of Metro's available data shows that violent crime across the entire system has increased by nearly 33%, a majority of which happened on trains.
KCAL News
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Santa Monica uses police drone to catch car burglar in the act
Santa Monica Police spotted and stopped a man who was burglarizing vehicles in a parking lot near the pier by using a drone. On July 6, a Santa Monica police officer was directing the department’s drone back to the station from a radio call when the officer decided to survey the Fourth of July weekend crowd near the pier and the nearby parking lots. As the drone flew over Lot 1 North, the parking lot next to the pier, he noticed a man wandering the lot, according to a video the department posted on their YouTube account.
Los Angeles Times
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Police officer in Orange County accused of raping woman in her home: report
A woman has accused an Anaheim police officer, who is currently off-duty pending an investigation, of raping her inside her home in September of last year, the Orange County Register reported. In a civil rights lawsuit filed this week in Santa Ana, the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, claims Anaheim Police Department Officer Carlos Romero ran her vehicle’s license plate number in May 2023 while she was in the drive-thru at an In-N-Out Burger and obtained her contact information.
KTLA
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California shoplifting up 39%, assaults, robberies, stolen vehicles rising
California continued its rapid increase in assaults, robberies, car thefts, and shoplifting, with the latest statewide data finding shoplifting increased 39% in 2023. Violent crimes overall rose from 193,019 in 2022 to 199,838, with most of the increase from jumps in assaults and robberies. Aggravated assaults, or attacks with the “purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury,” jumped from 128,798 in 2022 to 135,046 in 2023.
The Center Square
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After massive AT&T data breach, can users do anything?
Every day, it seems there's another breach - unauthorized access and vulnerability to your personal or financial information. The latest: AT&T's data breach, which exposed nearly all of its cellular customers' call and text message records. It seems many of us have even become a bit numb to hearing about them, barely even opening the routine emails and letters that come offering a year of free identity protection. But don't tune it out.
USA Today
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Newsom deals new blow to progressive DA Pamela Price over Oakland crime
Gov. Gavin Newsom is rescinding an offer to dispatch attorneys to help prosecute drug crimes in Oakland, accusing Alameda County’s embattled progressive District Attorney Pamela Price of effectively refusing the state’s help. “Despite our outreach, your office has yet to make use of these resources,” Newsom’s Cabinet Secretary Ann Patterson wrote in a letter to Price’s office, obtained exclusively by POLITICO on Wednesday, informing her they would redeploy the attorneys to the California Department of Justice.
Politico
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California State Fair rolls out on-site sales, consumption of cannabis
Cannabis history is happening at the California State Fair and if you don’t know it’s there, you just might miss it. Behind a monolithic building, past museum-like exhibits that wind the attendee down a timeline of the marijuana plant, sits the first area for on-site sales and consumption of cannabis at a state fair. Not just the California State Fair, organizers said. Any state fair. “We’re making history,” said Dustin Moore, co-founder of Embarc. “This has never happened.”
Courthouse News Service
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All 10 propositions on California’s 2024 ballot, explained
You’ve got presidential candidates and contenders vying for Congress. Then there are those running for local council seats or school board. But aside from the people on your ballot, there are also measures, or “propositions” as they’re listed. These propositions give voters the direct ability to weigh in on changes to California’s constitution, from repealing old laws to enacting new ones.
Riverside Press-Enterprise/Orange County Register
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Secret Service ramped up security after receiving intel of Iranian plot to assassinate Trump; no known connection to shooting
US authorities obtained intelligence from a human source in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Donald Trump, a development that led to the Secret Service increasing security around the former president, multiple people briefed on the matter told CNN. There’s no indication that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin who attempted to kill the former president on Saturday, was connected to the plot, the sources said.
CNN
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Convictions/Pleas/Sentences | |
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Inglewood teacher Charles Wright convicted of murdering a woman and sexually assaulting another woman in 2005, 2006
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced today that Charles Wright, a former Inglewood middle school teacher, was convicted by a jury on July 10 of murdering 21-year-old Pertina Epps on April 26, 2005, and kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman on September 17, 2006.
LA County DA’s Office News Release
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Los Angeles woman sentenced to 35 years to life for murder of Michael Latt
Jameelah Michl was sentenced to 35 years to life in state prison for the November 2023 shooting and killing of Michael Latt in his Mid-Wilshire home, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced today. “Today brings a measure of closure to a deeply painful chapter for Mr. Latt’s family, friends, and our entire community,” District Attorney Gascón said.
Santa Monica Mirror
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Man sentenced to prison for rapper's Inglewood killing
An ex-con has been sentenced to 32 years in state prison for rapper Slim 400's killing in Inglewood in December 2021, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday. Michael Lanell Terry, 35, pleaded guilty Monday to voluntary manslaughter and admitted that he used a firearm and had a prior felony strike conviction, according to the DA's office.
City News Service
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California attorney headed toward disbarment for allegedly looting $282 million from clients
A Tustin attorney accused of misappropriating $282 million from as many as 60,000 clients is likely headed for disbarment, the State Bar of California announced Tuesday, July 16. Daniel Stephen March, an attorney since 1982, has been charged with 27 ethics violations in two separate complaints alleging mass misappropriation, the State Bar said in a statement. March, 68, filed a motion in May with the State Bar Court of California stating he would not dispute the charges.
Orange County Register
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Federal judge allows sexual assault civil case against former Ukiah police chief to proceed
A U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco delivered a setback this week to a bid by the city of Ukiah and former Police Chief Noble Waidelich to dismiss a federal civil lawsuit alleging he sexually assaulted a local woman while on duty. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin allowed the case to proceed in federal court because she found that top police officials and city administrators knew of past abuse allegations against Waidelich but promoted him in late 2022 to lead the department anyway.
Anderson Valley Advertiser
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Federal appeals court blocks remainder of Biden's student debt relief plan
A federal appeals court blocked the implementation of the Biden administration's student debt relief plan, which would have lowered monthly payments for millions of borrowers. In a ruling Thursday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion for an administrative stay filed by a group of Republican-led states seeking to invalidate the administration's entire student loan forgiveness program.
NPR
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California finally approved indoor heat rules. Why were prison workers excluded?
California’s workplace safety board recently approved an indoor heat protection standard and urged Cal/OSHA to put it into full effect as quickly as possible. Nearly two decades after the state’s outdoor workers won heat protections, millions of California’s indoor workers will finally also be protected. Tragically, this victory for workers must be tempered by the callous decision to cut out more than 100,000 workers from its scope.
CalMatters
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