Courts, Rulings & Lawsuits | |
|
LA prosecutor suing over alleged demotion during Gascón era tentatively settles
A prosecutor who alleged he was demoted from a prestigious position for speaking out against former District Attorney George Gascón's sentencing directives has tentatively settled his lawsuit against Los Angeles County. Deputy District Attorney John Lewin's attorneys filed court papers on lawsuit with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Steve Cochran on Tuesday notifying him of the "conditional" accord with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by March 4, 2025. No terms were revealed.
City News Service
| |
|
C.A. declines to apply certain mitigating factors to strikes
Div. Five of the First District Court of Appeal has affirmed an order denying a defendant’s motion during a resentencing hearing to dismiss his prior strike convictions, rejecting the argument that the trial judge erred by not applying the mandatory criteria for vacating enhancements set forth in Penal Code §1385(c).
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
| |
|
Calif bar considers campus protests in moral character review for lawyer licensing
Bar admission authorities in California will consider applicants’ participation in campus protests on an “individual basis” during the moral character process, following an internal review. A State Bar of California working group, which took up the issue of whether and how the bar should continue to weigh applicants' participation in campus protests when determining if they have the moral character to become licensed attorneys, said that evaluators must be careful to exclude protected political speech or expression, according to a memo slated to be discussed by the state bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners on Friday.
Reuters
| |
|
Sotomayor, Gorsuch shine spotlight on government repayment for private property damage
Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked for a lower court assist Monday in deciding when property owners should be compensated if the government damages their belongings. The high court refused to hear an appeal from a Texas woman whose house sustained $50,000 in damages during a police standoff. The court didn’t explain its decision, but Sotomayor, a Barack Obama appointee, issued a statement suggesting that the justices wanted more appeals courts to weigh in.
Courthouse News Service
| |
|
Policies protecting outing of trans students are non-binding ‘guidelines,’ California says
A San Diego federal judge will need to decide if California strictly enforces anti-discrimination policies at schools that prevent teachers from revealing students' gender identities without their permission, or if the state provides suggested guidelines that schools can pick and choose from to support students and parents in their school districts.
Courthouse News Service
| |
|
US can continue using Seattle airport for deportation flights, appeals court says
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can continue using a Seattle airport for chartered deportation flights, a federal appeals court ruled in a decision that rejected a 2019 local order that sought to counter then-President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. The agency has long used airports around the country to charter flights deporting hundreds of thousands of noncitizens considered lawfully removable from the U.S.
AP
| |
|
Lawsuit asks California Supreme Court to expand use of electronic case recording
Two legal aid groups asked the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to authorize the expanded use of electronic recording across the state's trial courts, opening a new front in the ongoing battle over technology in courtrooms. The Family Violence Appellate Project and Bay Area Legal Aid say the current statutory ban on recording family law, probate and other types of cases violates parties' constitutional rights to a verbatim record of their matters.
Law.com
| |
|
Judge rules Burbank dog who bit neighbor will return to owners, won't be euthanized
Although concluding a dog's attack on a woman in Burbank earlier this year was unprovoked and that the animal is vicious, a judge has ordered the dog returned to its owners under specific conditions - and not euthanized. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alison MacKenzie issued her ruling Tuesday in the petition brought Aug. 21 by Nelson Grande and Sylvia Franco, owners of an 8-year-old pitbull/Labrador mix named Conan, against the city of Burbank.
City News Service
| |
|
OpenAI sued by top Canadian media outlets over copyright infringement
ChatGPT creator OpenAI has been sued by more news organizations for using articles to train its artificial intelligence systems, this time by top Canadian media outlets. Torstar, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press and CBC/Radio-Canada on Friday filed a joint lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against OpenAI. The legal action alleges the Sam Altman-led firm is “infringing, authorizing, and/or inducing the infringement of the news media companies’ copyright in the owned works,” in violation of copyright laws.
Hollywood Reporter
| |
|
TikTok is one step closer to being banned in the US
TikTok has lost its bid to strike down a law that could result in the platform being banned in the United States. A US appeals court upheld the law in a ruling Friday. Denying TikTok’s argument that the law was unconstitutional, the judges found that the law does not “contravene the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States,” nor does it “violate the Fifth Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the laws.”
CNN
| |
|
Hochman announces immediate rescinding of certain policies affecting public safety
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced a series of immediate policy changes following yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony, promising to improve public safety in the county by pursuing appropriate sentences for violent and serious offenders. Hochman said he would inform prosecutors in the office that he is revoking former District Attorney George Gascón’s Dec. 7, 2020 special directives that prohibited or strictly limited the filing of certain charges and sentencing enhancements.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
| |
|
Los Angeles high-speed pursuit suspects identified, charged with multiple crimes
The two men inside a stolen vehicle that led police on a high-speed chase throughout Los Angeles have been identified and charged with multiple crimes. Simi Valley Police Department officials confirmed that an officer located a stolen vehicle somewhere in the city around 7:45 p.m. Friday; the exact location was not disclosed. Authorities also stated that the officer initially began following the vehicle because they thought the driver was operating it under the influence.
KTLA
| |
|
The devastating cost of Gascón’s failed tenure
In a stunning display of disconnect, on November 27, George Gascón issued a media release touting his so-called “transformative achievements” over the last four years. Yet glaringly absent from this self-praise was the deeply troubling case of Kenji Howard - a man who admitted to firing the gun that killed two people and who recently was awarded over $1.2 million from the California Victim Compensation Board.
California Globe
| |
|
Are Oakland officers who conducted 'ghost chase' liable for death of innocent bystander?
Are two Oakland police officers who conducted an unauthorized "ghost chase" of a 19-year-old suspect leaving a sideshow liable for the death of an innocent bystander? That is the question that was argued in front of the U.S. District Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Jose, and was posted online last week. The three justices - Susan P. Graber, Michelle T. Friedland and Patrick J. Bumatay - are now tasked with rendering an opinion, which could come over the next several months.
KTVU
| |
|
End of defund police era? Crime, prosecutorial crackdown in blue and purple states signal shift, experts say
Politicians and pundits have described the 2024 election as a "mandate" for change from the American people after four years of frustration with the economy, illegal immigration and crime, among other factors. In 2020, local and federal politicians met demands from protesters to "defund" or "dismantle" police departments across the country. Intending to reform the criminal justice system, they passed bills aimed at moving police funds to other entities or changing the way police pursue suspects after George Floyd's murder.
Fox News
| |
|
Judge in Hunter Biden tax case calls president's pardon statement an attempt to 'rewrite history’
The judge who presided over the California tax fraud case against Hunter Biden called out the president for mischaracterizing and minimizing the charges against his son in announcing why he was pardoning him. "The Constitution provides the President with broad authority to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, but nowhere does the Constitution give the President the authority to rewrite history," U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi wrote in a ruling late Tuesday.
NBC News
| |
|
C.A. affirms restraining order against man who threatened Solis with sexual violence
The Court of Appeal for this district yesterday affirmed a three-year workplace restraining order barring a man who sports a swastika on his clothing and has disrupted Board of Supervisors’ meetings from contacting Supervisor Hilda Solis or her deputy Maria Ponce “in any way” other than in the form of a written communication from his lawyer or papers delivered by a process server.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
| |
|
ADDA President Michele Hanisee discusses District Attorney Nathan Hochman on KNX (Audio)
Michele Hanisee, President of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, recently joined KNX News to provide insights on what Los Angeles can expect under the leadership of newly elected District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
LA ADDA
| |
|
Nathan Hochman sworn in by Arnold Schwarzenegger as Los Angeles County D.A.
Flanked by one of the city’s most famous action heroes, Nathan Hochman began his term as Los Angeles County district attorney Tuesday by promising to restore justice and balance to a prosecutor’s office he believes lost its way over the last four years. Hochman, 61, was sworn in by former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in front of a crowd of hundreds of enthusiastic supporters as the “Terminator” star dramatically announced “the city of Los Angeles is now going to be back.”
Los Angeles Times
| |
|
New LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman takes office
Los Angeles County's new top prosecutor took office Tuesday when he was sworn in at a Hall of Justice ceremony in downtown LA. Nathan Hochman defeated incumbent George Gascón in last month's election. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger administered the oath in front of the 1920s-era building that is home to offices of the Los Angeles County Sheriff and the District Attorney, making Hochman the county's 44th district attorney.
NBC4/City News Service
| |
|
New DA in Los Angeles promises ‘hard middle approach’ amid a heightened sense of public disorder
A new top prosecutor for the nation’s largest county is taking office Monday with a promise to usher in a tougher-on-crime approach after Los Angeles voters took heightened anxiety over crime and public safety to the polls last month. Nathan Hochman, a former Republican candidate for California attorney general and federal prosecutor, is the new district attorney for Los Angeles - one of the country’s most progressive cities.
CNN
| |
|
LA’s District Attorney Nathan Hochman sworn in by former Gov. Schwarzenegger
Four years ago, George Gascón, fresh off his win as Los Angeles County’s new district attorney, made bold, dramatic policy changes his first day in office. Among them were instructions to prosecutors in the D.A.’s office to stop charging juveniles as adults, to get rid of a number of sentencing enhancements that could add years to a criminal’s jail sentence based on things like crimes committed on behalf of a gang or crimes involving a firearm, and barring prosecutors from accompanying victims or their families to parole hearings.
Los Angeles Daily News
| |
|
DAMAGE CONTROL: Probation Chief is out, high profile exec at DA Office heads to Probation Dept.
The turmoil and turnover at LA County Probation has finally hit its peak with the resignation of Probation Director Guillermo Viera Rosa. Sources reveal a memo was sent to the LA County Board of Supervisors December 5th, indicating Viera Rosa would step down as head of the scandal plagued department on December 31st. Robert Arcos, former Chief of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has now taken the role as Deputy Director of Special Enforcement Operations at LA County Probation.
Current Report
| |
|
Detective accused of giving Nazi-like salute resigns from South Pasadena Police Department
A veteran detective who once landed in hot water for disguising himself as a deputy and sneaking into Men’s Central Jail has resigned from the South Pasadena Police Department amid recent allegations that he repeatedly gave a Nazi-like salute last year during a training lecture hosted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, according to a news release and internal records.
Los Angeles Times
| |
|
Jury awards $3 million to ex-SWAT sergeant who alleged 'mafia' culture in LAPD unit
Timothy Colomey said his fellow Los Angeles police officers had a nickname for him after he transferred out of SWAT: “Top Rope.” It was a reference to a professional wrestler flinging himself from the top rope of a ring and flooring his opponent, Colomey said. A former senior SWAT sergeant, Colomey had aggressively taken down plenty of suspects during his career, but according to his testimony at a civil trial that played out in a downtown courthouse in recent weeks, the nickname insinuated he was trying to flatten his old unit by spilling its darkest secrets.
Los Angeles Times
| |
|
LA County juvenile halls again under fire as Los Padrinos Detention Center deemed unsuitable
There are approximately 300 youth detained in the two juvenile halls under the LA County Probation Department, Los Padrinos in Downey and Barry J. Nidorf in Sylmar. Both facilities have been under fire in the past couple of years for being found out of compliance with state regulations and being declared unsuitable to house detainees.
Spectrum News1
| |
|
Barger becomes Chair of Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger started her term as Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for 2024-2025 on Tuesday, Dec. 3. There are some immediate changes that will be implemented in the Board’s meeting schedule at Supervisor Barger’s direction. As memorialized in a letter sent to her colleagues, effective Jan. 1, board meetings will be held every Tuesday.
SCV News
| |
|
White supremacist prison gang leader accused of attacking two prison officers
A white supremacist prison gang leader is accused in the attempted homicide of two officers at the California State Prison in Sacramento, authorities said Tuesday. Ronald D. Yandell, a leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, allegedly attacked two officers last Friday morning as they were transferring him back to his cell after an appointment at the prison’s health building.
Prison officials say he drew an “improvised weapon” against the officers.
AP
| |
|
State suspends L.A. County sheriff’s deputy’s certification after drunken driving arrest
A California police oversight agency suspended the peace officer certification of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy this month, weeks after court records show he was arrested in Long Beach on suspicion of driving into a wall while intoxicated and seriously injuring another man. Justin Cham, then a 25-year deputy working in the Special Operations Division, pleaded not guilty in September and was released on his own recognizance, according to jail and court records.
Los Angeles Times
| |
|
Did Hannah Kobayashi secretly marry for money?
The FBI has now been pulled into the Hannah Kobayashi missing persons case after her mother discovered that she may have engaged in a secret marriage for money and turned documents over to investigators as her family desperately continues its search for her. New information about Kobayashi's ties to a a possible immigration scam comes after after LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell announced his investigators tracked Kobayashi to Mexico and have her on video walking into that country alone with her luggage on Nov. 12, four day after her arrival at LAX.
Los Angeles Magazine
| |
|
2 teenagers, 1 man arrested for illegally manufacturing guns in Ventura County
Deputies arrested two teenagers and a 45-year-old man for allegedly manufacturing and possessing unregistered guns and automatic rifles in Ventura County, officials announced Friday. At the conclusion of a months-long investigation, detectives say they seized 16 illegal firearms, three unlawfully possessed firearms, numerous firearm components and a “significant amount” of ammunition from a Santa Rosa Valley residence.
KTLA
| |
|
Woman who vanished after landing at LAX spotted crossing into Mexico, no evidence of foul play, LAPD says
The Los Angeles Police Department announced Monday the case of Hannah Kobayashi, the woman from Hawaii who vanished last month after landing at LAX, is now a voluntary missing person case, explaining its investigators have video evidence of Kobayashi crossing the border into Mexico on foot. Law enforcement sources had confirmed to NBC Los Angeles that Kobayashi was believed to be in Mexico, and there was no evidence of foul play in her disappearance.
NBC4
| |
|
Is a new police force the answer to rising crime on the Los Angeles Metro?
Late one recent morning at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, Metro riders waited patiently to catch their trains. They shared the platform with a slew of “ambassadors” wearing bright yellow jackets - uniformed Metro Transit Security Officers and homeless outreach providers. One provider, Debora Latimer, spends her days walking the grounds of Union Station and engaging with homeless people.
Santa Monica Daily Press
| |
|
Father arrested in Compton 9-year-old’s fatal shooting
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has arrested the father of a 9-year-old Compton boy in the child’s shooting death on Saturday. Princeton Jones, who was shot while playing outside his grandfather’s home at Haskins Avenue and Alondra Boulevard at around 7:40 p.m., was killed by his father, 32-year-old Nicholas Jones, officials said in a news release. The elder Jones was arrested on Sunday on charges of murder and child abuse resulting in death, the release added.
KTLA
| |
|
California officials quietly set aside law on deceptive election content
After a federal judge blocked enforcement of a California law allowing political candidates targeted by deepfake ads to sue for damages, state officials have quietly postponed enforcement of a related law that would require large online platforms to block the posting of deceptive content about candidates in the last 120 days before an election.
San Francisco Chronicle
| |
|
Trump’s deportations could cost California ‘hundreds of billions of dollars.’ here’s how
Mass deportations promised by President-elect Donald Trump could have a seismic economic effect in California - potentially inflicting billions of dollars in direct damages to a wide range of industries, including small business, agriculture, construction and child care, advocates and academics said. The impact could also spread outward to other sectors, including growth drivers like tech.
CalMatters
| |
|
California warned unemployment system headed for ruin without reform
The California Legislative Analyst’s Office released a report Monday detailing the urgent need to fix the state’s “broken” unemployment insurance system, which currently faces significant financial challenges incurred during the pandemic, including an outstanding $20 billion loan from the federal government. “Unless changes are made, the state will have no reserves when the next recession begins,” a Legislative Analyst’s Office in an infographic accompanying the report said.
Courthouse News Service
| |
|
Brothel customers must appear at public hearing, in case allegedly involving powerful figures
Men accused of frequenting a high-end brothel in Massachusetts must appear at a public hearing, the state’s highest court ruled, saying their right to privacy was trumped by public interest in a case that allegedly involves “government officials, corporate executives” and other powerful figures. Show cause hearings are normally held behind closed doors because they are intended to allow the accused to challenge misdemeanor criminal charges before they are publicly filed, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court said.
Legal Newsline
| |
|
Why California’s prison guard union is spending so much on Gavin Newsom
A year after he took the top job in 2019, the president of one of California’s largest and most powerful unions said in a newsletter that he wanted to be “the 800 pound gorilla” in Sacramento politics. Since then, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the union known as CCPOA representing 26,000 state prison guards, has spent and spent, in a way it never did before. Its biggest recipient: Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has taken $2.9 million from the union since he was elected governor.
CalMatters
| |
|
Man sentenced 15 to life in prison for 1993 Lynwood murder
A man who was convicted of the 1993 murder of a woman whose body was found underneath a waterbed frame at a Lynwood motel was sentenced Thursday to 15 years to life in state prison. Just before imposing Anthony Winston's sentence, Superior Court Judge David Herriford cited the "very vicious attack with a blunt instrument" on Barnetta Burrell Navarro and noted that the victim's body had been concealed.
City News Service
| |
|
New laws going into effect in 2025 in California
Hundreds of new laws are set to go into effect in California in the new year. Here are some of the changes coming to a range of issues, including medical debt, zoning and drinking alcohol in public spaces. Housing: Starting next year, local agencies are required to approve or deny duplex and lot splitting applications within 60 days. If the agency denies the application, it is required to provide a list of what would be needed to fix the application.
Fox5 San Diego
| |
|
In legal filings, Drake takes his beef with Kendrick Lamar to the courts
An ongoing beef between two of the world's most famous rappers has taken an unusual turn from recording studio to courthouse. Now, if you don't know the players in said beef, they are Drake and Kendrick Lamar. And what happened was, this week, lawyers for Drake made a series of court filings claiming that Universal Music Group artificially boosted listenership for Kendrick Lamar's viral dis track about Drake called "Not Like Us."
NPR
| |
|
Here’s why LA says $3.2 billion in federal funding is needed for the 2028 Summer Olympics
Los Angeles officials are asking President-elect Donald Trump to budget $3.2 billion to improve public transportation for the 2028 Summer Games, calling the next Olympics to be held in the United States “the largest and most spectacular sporting event held in American history.” The request was made in mid-November in a letter from LA’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority board that cites past contributions from the federal government to American Olympic hosts as $1.3 billion for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City and $609 million for the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Deseret News
| |
|
Just because teenagers can become lawyers doesn’t mean they should
Oliver Wendell Holmes, the great Supreme Court justice and legal scholar, sagely observed that “the life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.” Unfortunately, the California Committee of Bar Examiners does not seem to have gotten the message. Twice in the past two years, the bar examiners announced that 17-year-old applicants had passed the bar examination, to be sworn in as lawyers upon reaching 18.
The Hill
| | | | |
