Courts/Rulings & Lawsuits | | |
Federal lawsuit challenges California's ban on less-lethal pepperball weapons
A federal lawsuit filed this week in San Diego is challenging California's prohibition on less-lethal pepper projectile weapons, arguing that the state's ban violates Second Amendment rights. The suit names San Diego County resident Sandy Schiller as one of three plaintiffs and is filed against California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
CBS8
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Judge wrongly booted pregnant woman from program
A Contra Costa Superior Court judge violated the due process rights of a midemeanant who was placed on a work-release program in liue of spending 60-days in jail but, after she missed a day because of morning sickness, was ordered to serve out the rest of the sentence in custody, Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held Friday.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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Arguments over Realtor-rape allegation move to federal court in LA
A thumb drive full of evidence could prove important in a yearslong lawsuit that alleged former local Realtor Mike Bjorkman committed multiple sexual assaults that were covered up by the billion-dollar real estate firm that employed him. A federal judge granted an unopposed motion in November that moved arguments over that thumb drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, with no new court dates yet.
The Signal
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C.A. says defendant must actually be released for preliminary hearing clock to be extended
Div. Five of this district’s Court of Appeal has held that felony assault charges against an in-custody defendant must be dismissed where the prosecutors failed to conduct a preliminary hearing within 10 court days of his arraignment, declaring that the timeline may not be extended to that applicable to other suspects by virtue of a judge’s release order on which the jailers did not act until the statutory period had expired.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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Mitigation for military service not available for some offenders
Div. Four of the First District Court of Appeal has held that a Penal Code section, which allows veterans to seek resentencing relief if a service-induced traumatic injury or substance abuse problem was not taken into account as a mitigating factor during the original sentencing hearing, does not apply if the defendant’s crime is a so-called “super-strike” offense.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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Ninth Circuit holds that tribal officials cannot claim sovereign immunity or qualified immunity under the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act
Recently, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that tribal officials could not claim sovereign immunity or qualified immunity from potential liability for failure to remit taxes on cigarette sales to the State of California under the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009. In 2023, California filed suit in federal court against Defendant Azuma Corporation, a manufacturer and distributor of cigarettes, for failure to pay state taxes.
JD Supra
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Feds ask Ninth Circuit to lift block on excessive force against journalists
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Friday asked a Ninth Circuit panel to pause a preliminary injunction that prohibits federal agents from using excessive and indiscriminate force against journalists and peaceful protesters at demonstrations in Southern California.
Courthouse News Service
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LASC Judge Debra Archuleta draws public admonishment
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Debra R. Archuleta yesterday received a public admonishment from the judicial oversight body for engaging “in a pattern of discourteous, undignified, and impatient behavior,” with the commission highlighting that, in multiple instances, she “treated parents and children as if they were criminal defendants, instead of participants in dependency court.”
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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LA's mansion tax' survives legal challenge
The California Courts of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision on Monday in favor of a “mansion tax” in Los Angeles aimed at funding public housing and reducing homelessness across the city. The California Courts of Appeal upheld voter-approved measure United to House Los Angeles, or Measure ULA, and rejected the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association’s argument that it violates both the state’s constitution and the city’s charter.
Courthouse News Service
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Nuclear verdicts’ make Los Angeles most hellacious U.S. city for lawsuits
Hell on earth is a Los Angeles courtroom. A report released this week by the American Tort Reform Foundation found that LA is the worst region in the country for “judicial hellholes,” and residents are picking up the tab for excessive litigation based on novel legal theories that result in “nuclear verdicts” with staggering penalties.
New York Post
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Nick Reiner appears in L.A. court after being charged with murder in deaths of his parents
Nick Reiner appeared in a Los Angeles courthouse on Wednesday for the first time since he was accused of killing of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner. His arraignment was pushed back till Jan. 7, the second time it was delayed since he was arrested Sunday in his parents' deaths. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office on Wednesday listed the couple's cause of death as multiple sharp force injuries.
NBC News
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4 charged with plotting New Year’s Eve attacks in Southern California, prosecutors say
The Justice Department on Monday said it has arrested four people in the Los Angeles area for allegedly working together on a bomb plot that was set to take place around the city on New Year’s Eve. The four people arrested - Audrey Ilene Carroll, Dante Garfield, Zachary Aaron Page, and Tina Lai - were identified as members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, which according to the Justice Department and FBI, has an anti-government ideology.
CNN
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No charges for 'Capt. Hollywood'; detectives claim LAPD mishandled CBS exec case leak
A former Los Angeles Police Department commander who authorities said tipped off CBS to a rape allegation against the network's top executive will not face criminal charges, with two LAPD detectives claiming department leaders undermined the investigation, according to documents obtained by The Times.
Los Angeles Times
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17 members of local gang linked to Mexican Mafia arrested in sweep in San Gabriel Valley
More than a dozen people were arrested in a gang sweep Wednesday in the San Gabriel Valley on suspicion of drug trafficking, kidnapping, selling weapons and more. A combination of local law enforcement and federal agents arrested 17 members and associates of a local gang linked to the Mexican Mafia. The charges include two shootings, kidnapping and illegal sales of weapons and drugs.
ABC7
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DOJ considers charges for satanist pedophile getting off easy in California
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is weighing potential federal charges against a self-described Satanist pedophile whom California punished leniently, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli exclusively told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Daily Caller
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Attorneys argue case against cheerleader coach accused of assaulting 11 girls
A 46-year-old man sexually assaulted 11 girls, many of whom he met as a coach of national championship cheerleading teams, going back to about 25 years ago, a prosecutor argued to jurors Thursday as the defendant’s attorney said the allegations don’t add up and his client is innocent. Erick Joseph Kristianson is facing 25 felony sex charges involving 10 victims with one Florida girl’s allegations included in the trial to support the claim of a pattern of abuse.
MyNewsLA
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Lancaster man accused of killing wife and fleeing to Peru extradited back to LA County
A Lancaster man accused of killing his wife, dumping her body in a forest and then fleeing to Peru has been extradited back to the U.S., authorities said. Jossimar Cabrera was apprehended around 7:30 p.m. Friday at Los Angeles International Airport for the murder of Sheylla Gutierrez. He was taken to a sheriff's station and booked for murder, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.
ABC7
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Leaders and members of alleged cult-like California religious group charged with murder
The leaders and two members of an alleged cult-like religious organization in Southern California were charged with murder in connection with the deaths of a 4-year-old boy and a missing 40-year-old man. The Hemet-based religious group called “His Way Spirit Led Assemblies” has been at the center of an ongoing investigation after two former members, Emilio Ghanem, 40, and Ruben Moreno, 49, were reported missing in 2019 and 2023, respectively.
KTLA
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L.A.’s street vending crisis is a symptom of a city that has stopped enforcing its own rules
In Los Angeles, even parking has become a battleground. The Los Angeles Times recently profiled Joey Morales, the self-appointed “Cone King, who roams the city removing cones, trash bins, and makeshift barriers used by residents to stake claim to public parking spaces. His TikTok crusade captures a larger truth about life in L.A.: when the city fails to enforce basic rules, people begin making up their own.
CityWatch
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How a speeding ticket can be worse than killing someone with your car in California
In California, you can kill someone with your car and not even have a point on your license. That’s because of a criminal justice reform law passed in 2020, allowing judges to effectively erase a misdemeanor case from existence. It shields people accused of “low-level” crimes from the stigma of having a conviction on their record, something that can limit work and housing opportunities.
CalMatters
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San Diego County leaders credit Prop. 36 for decrease in retail thefts
Retail theft in San Diego has dropped significantly over the past year, a trend local officials credit to Proposition 36, a statewide initiative targeting repeat offenders. San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan highlighted the results during a press conference Thursday, saying the measure is a homelessness, drug addiction and theft reduction act.
Fox5/KUSI
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California district attorneys call for long-term state funding for Prop 36 treatment programs
It's been nearly one year since Proposition 36 took effect in California, an effort to tighten laws around property and drug crimes while expanding access to treatment instead of jail for nonviolent offenders. But from the start, funding has been the biggest obstacle. On Wednesday, district attorneys and supporters gathered in Sacramento to talk about progress and the growing urgency for stable funding.
CBS Bay Area
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Judge increases attorney’s fees award in Tracy Miller case, adding to Orange County’s financial liability
A judge on Friday significantly increased Orange County’s financial liability in the Tracy Miller case, awarding $1,542,215 in attorneys’ fees on top of a San Diego jury’s $3 million verdict in favor of the former Orange County senior assistant district attorney. The June jury verdict found that Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer and his former second-in-command, Judge Shawn Nelson, harassed and retaliated against Miller after she sought to protect younger female prosecutors who reported sexual harassment by former supervisor Gary Logalbo.
Vanguard News Group
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For L.A.'s mayor, a Palisades recovery marked by missteps, reversals and delays
It was supposed to be a speech with a clear message of hope for survivors of the Palisades fire. In her State of the City address in April, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called for a law exempting fire victims from construction permit fees - potentially saving them tens of thousands of dollars as they rebuild their homes.
Los Angeles Times
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LAPD finally faces charter reform. The real question is: Who tried to stop it?
For months, the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission has circled around the edges of real accountability - debating council expansion, neighborhood councils, ethics oversight, and democratic representation. But one issue, arguably the most consequential of them all, has been conspicuously absent: the Los Angeles Police Department. Now, at last, LAPD has been added to the formal scope of Charter reform. The question practically writes itself: What took so long?
CityWatch
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L.A. vs. LA28: Could the city sue over the cost of the Olympics?
With the 2028 Summer Olympics creeping closer, the Los Angeles City Council still has not come to an agreement with the private committee overseeing the Games over who will pay for the additional city services required to host athletes and spectators from around the world. With hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars at stake, the city has blown past its own Oct. 1 deadline for hammering out an “Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement” contract with LA28 and is now considering filing suit.
Los Angeles Times
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First responders featured in new documentary about Los Angeles wildfires
A new documentary shows never-before-seen footage of the Los Angeles wildfires. It spotlights some of the heroic efforts by first responders battling the Eaton and Palisades fires this past January. “There was a moment that I thought I was trapped. It looked like a fire tornado up there at the time. I’m driving the Crown Vic, and I can’t see. I think I’m going straight, and I’m almost hitting a curb and a tree,” a deputy says in one scene, recalling driving through an Altadena neighborhood.
Daily Dispatch
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Who’s running the LAPD? Chief’s style draws mixed reviews in first year
When an LAPD captain stood up during a meeting this fall and asked Chief Jim McDonnell to explain the role of his most trusted deputy, Dominic Choi, other top brass in attendance waited with anticipation for the reply. Multiple department sources, who requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting and speak candidly about their boss, said McDonnell’s answer drew confused looks.
DNYUZ
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Watchdogs warn L.A. County is undermining efforts at oversight of Sheriff's Department
After steadily gaining power and influence for more than a decade, the watchdogs that provide civilian oversight of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department face an uncertain future. A recent leadership exodus has left behind gaps in experience and knowledge, and a succession of legal challenges and funding cuts by the county have left some concerned that long-fought gains in transparency are slipping away.
Los Angeles Times
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How LAPD tracked down Nick Reiner, arrested him for parents' murders (Video)
Police saw Rob Reiner’s son smoking in the Exposition Park area, law enforcement sources said. Eric Leonard reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Monoday, Dec. 15, 2025.
NBC4
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Police shoot suspect armed with bat trying to break into home in Winnetka, LAPD says
Police say officers shot a man who was trying to break into a home with a baseball bat overnight in the Winnetka area of Los Angeles. The officer-involved shooting happened near Saticoy Street and Oso Avenue around 2:15 a.m. Tuesday. The Los Angeles Police Department said officers responded to a 911 call regarding a man armed with a baseball bat who was seen breaking windows in an attempt to break into an apartment.
ABC7
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Burglars break into Mar Vista home of WNBA star and ex-NFL lineman husband
The Los Angeles-area home of WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu and her husband, former NFL lineman Hroniss Grasu, was burglarized on Monday night, Eyewitness News has learned. The break-in happened around 8 p.m. at their home in Mar Vista. Police said the couple was not home with the burglary happened.
ABC7
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California plans to reissue contested driver’s licenses to thousands of immigrants KQED
Thousands of immigrant truck drivers are breathing a sigh of relief after California said Tuesday it’s preparing to reissue commercial licences it planned to revoke after federal pressure. State transportation officials confirmed that the Department of Motor Vehicles will start reissuing the contested licenses to 17,000 immigrant drivers who were sent 60-day cancellation notices on Nov. 6. The agency has yet to clarify how that process will work.
KQED
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California auditor finds millions of dollars in waste, misuse in state departments
A Friday report by the California state auditor found over $5 million in improper spending across a handful of state agencies through waste, misuse or a failure to report. The problems cut across agencies from the California Air Resources Control Board to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Of nearly 2,700 cases reviewed between January 2024 and October, about 2,000 - roughly 74% - lacked enough information to investigate or were still pending review, the state auditor found.
Courthouse News Service
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Lawmakers leading California Capitol Annex construction speak about project for the first time in years
Lawmakers overseeing the construction of California's controversial Capitol Annex project are breaking their years-long silence and promising to be more transparent. The legislature's Joint Rules Committee has been making the day-to-day decisions on the new building that will house the new offices of state lawmakers and the governor. The committee has not had a public hearing on the project or updated the project's website since 2021.
KCRA
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Times Investigation: Ex-Trump DOJ lawyers say 'fraudulent' UC antisemitism probes led them to quit
Nine former Department of Justice attorneys assigned to investigate alleged antisemitism at the University of California described chaotic and rushed directives from the Trump administration and told The Times they felt pressured to conclude that campuses had violated the civil rights of Jewish students and staff.
Los Angeles Times
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California unemployment agency paid $4.6 million in monthly fees for unused cellphones
California's unemployment agency kept paying cellphone bills for four and a half years without checking whether its workers were actually using the devices. That's how it racked up $4.6 million in fees for mobile devices its workers were not using, according to a new state audit detailing wasteful spending at several government agencies.
Bay City News Service
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How California’s county fairs have become cotton candy for fraud, theft, and mismanagement
Like many of California’s fairs, the one in Humboldt County is a cherished local institution, beloved for its junk food, adorable baby animals and exhibits of local arts and crafts. Rock star chef Guy Fieri, who grew up in town, even turns up to host the chili cook-off. But along with its Ferris wheels and funnel cakes, the Humboldt County event shares something darker in common with a number of California’s 77 local fairs: It has been racked with fraud and mismanagement.
DNYUZ
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UC’s $28M system for pension payouts produced chaos and complaints
The University of California is one of the world’s most prestigious centers of higher education and cutting-edge medical, technological and social research. One assumes that its faculty and administrative cadre are saturated with extremely bright people. Nevertheless, UC has succumbed to a managerial disease that has afflicted other corners of state government - the chronic inability to successfully adopt information technology.
CalMatters
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Supreme Court justices to be term-limited, new bill proposes
A bill proposing term limits for Supreme Court justices has received a new voice of support after Representative Mike Levin, a California Democrat, announced he will co-sponsor a bill calling for the measure. However, the proposal faces an enormous constitutional barrier: Article III of the U.S. Constitution states that federal judges “shall hold their offices during good behavior,” a clause widely understood to prohibit term limits without a constitutional amendment.
Newsweek
| | Convictions/Pleas/Sentences/Parole | | |
LA man pleads guilty to assaulting federal officer at immigration protest
A Los Angeles man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of assaulting a federal agent during an illegal immigration enforcement protest in June. Christian Cerna-Camacho, 28, punched the officer during the demonstration in Paramount, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Sentencing is set for March 27. When agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security tried to detain Cerna-Camacho for the assault days after the protest, he attempted to drive away from them, prosecutors said.
City News Service
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2 men sentenced for murders of 19-year-old, 17-year-old
Two young men were sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the killings of a 19-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl at a park in Montecito Heights just over a decade ago. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli called the crimes "gruesome" and rejected requests by defense attorneys for lesser sentences for Jose Antonio Echeverria and Dallas Stone Pineda.
City News Service
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Man sentenced to life in prison for fatal stabbing of 67-year-old woman on Metro train
A 47-year-old man was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering an elderly woman aboard a Metro train last year. “Commuters should feel safe when they ride our public transit but sadly a life was needlessly taken when a man brutally stabbed and robbed a woman who was simply trying to get home after working an overnight shift,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said.
L.A. District Attorney’s Office News Release
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SF filmmaker Kevin Epps convicted of manslaughter, not murder, in 2016 shooting
San Francisco filmmaker and journalist Kevin Epps on Monday was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, nine years after he fatally shot his former partner’s ex-brother-in-law during an altercation at his family’s Glen Park home. While prosecutors initially charged him with first-degree murder, the jury concluded that Epps did not act with malice but was still not justified to act in self-defense when he shot Marcus Polk on Oct. 24, 2016.
KQED
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Man to plead guilty to cartel-linked money laundering charge
An East Los Angeles man who allegedly helped Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel launder millions of dollars in drug trafficking proceeds by working with members of illegal money exchanges, including some with links to Chinese banking, is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to a federal charge. Edgar Joel Martinez-Reyes, 46, has agreed to plead guilty in Los Angeles federal court to one count of conspiracy to launder money.
MyNewsLA
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Halligan’s US attorney nomination appears dead on arrival in Senate
President Donald Trump’s pick to be U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia may already be doomed to fail, just hours after the White House formally nominated her to the role from which she was recently ejected. Virginia’s Democratic senators signaled on Thursday that they would withhold their blue slip approval for Lindsey Halligan, a move that would all but ensure that the former Justice Department attorney and White House official will not receive the required Senate confirmation.
Courthouse News Service
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‘Both sides botched it.’ Bass, in unguarded moment, rips responses to Palisades, Eaton fires
The setting looked almost cozy: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and a podcast host seated inside her home in two comfy chairs, talking about President Trump, ICE raids, public schools and the Palisades fire. The recording session inside the library at Getty House, the official mayor’s residence, lasted an hour. Once it ended, the two shook hands and the room broke into applause.
Los Angeles Times
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Ninth Circuit confirms contempt finding against Apple in Epic Games battle
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday agreed with a trial judge who held Apple in civil contempt for violating her 2021 injunction that was meant to curtail the tech giant’s anticompetitive practices by allowing consumers to make app purchases other than through Apple’s app store. In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel concluded that Apple’s civil contempt was shown by clear and convincing evidence.
Courthouse News Service
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