Courts, Rulings & Lawsuits

Shout of ‘don’t let cops in’ rendered search nonconsensual

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has held that consent by a cohabitating girlfriend to search an apartment was invalid where the defendant - who was located down one flight of stairs and one short walkway away from his unit - shouted to her, “Don’t let the cops in and don’t talk to them” and had resisted officers’ attempts to check him for weapons when he earlier answered the door.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Appeals court panel orders case reinstated against two deputies

A state appeals court panel Friday ordered a criminal case to be reinstated against two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who were charged with filing a false report involving a 2018 arrest in East Los Angeles. In a 20-page ruling in the case of Woodrow Kim and Joshua Miramontes, the three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal concluded that “there is a rational basis for believing that each defendant committed the crime of filing a false report.”

MyNewsLA

Lawsuit against El Monte hotel reaches tentative settlement

Although a judge previously dismissed most of a consolidated lawsuit brought by relatives of two El Monte police officers fatally shot by a felon in 2022, she is now being asked to approve a $500,000 tentative settlement involving relatives of one officer with the owners of the motel where the shootings occurred.

City News Service

L.A. County suing Grubhub, alleging shady business practices

Citing alleged deceptive business practices, Los Angeles County filed a lawsuit against food-delivery service Grubhub on Wednesday, according to officials. The lawsuit accused the food-delivery giant of several practices the county deemed to “take advantage” of consumers, drivers and restaurants.

KTLA

A California judge is under investigation for alleged antisemitism and ethical violations

A Northern California judge is under investigation by a state agency for allegedly making antisemitic remarks when addressing a deputy public defender, failing to recuse himself from cases involving attorneys and other people he socialized with, sexually harassing women, and other ethical violations.

AP

Violent OC white supremacist group founder back in federal custody after brief release from lockup

The purported founder of a Southern California-based militant white supremacist group was re-arrested on Thursday - the same day that 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges reversed his release from lockup. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney dismissed the criminal case Robert Rundo was facing, because, Carney determined, federal prosecutors engaged in “selective prosecution” by pursuing suspected “far-right, white supremacist nationalists” but not “Antifa and other extremist, far-left groups.”

Orange County Register

Length of sentence is relevant to public-safety analysis

The Third District Court of Appeal held yesterday that a judge abused his discretion under Penal Code §1385 in failing to strike any firearm enhancements at a sentencing hearing due to public safety concerns, failing to take into account the timeline of when the defendant, who was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus 57 years to life, could be released if the enhancement were struck.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Court of appeal takes expansive view of Racial Justice Act

Testimony by a police officer, which the judge believed, that he was unaware of the race of the occupant of a car when he signaled for the driver to stop, did not justify denial of a motion under the Racial Justice Act of 2020, Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday, finding that the possibility of “implicit bias” was not properly taken into account.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Governor Newsom’s early release of murderers is illegal

On December 14, 2023, the California Board of Parole Hearings, which is under Governor Gavin Newsom’s authority, approved parole for child murderer Patrick Goodman. Goodman, a repeat felon, beat his girlfriend’s three-year-old son to death in 2000. The medical examiner confirmed that the little boy died of a broken neck, broken ribs, a severed bowel, a severed artery and 50 separate external injuries.

California Globe

Supreme Court declines to settle circuit split raised in Florida man’s robbery conviction appeal

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to weigh in on a federal prisoner’s request to overturn his robbery conviction and 24-year prison sentence. Michael Bowe admitted to his involvement in a 2008 robbery in West Palm Beach, Florida, and pleaded guilty to three counts: conspiracy to commit a Hobbs Act robbery, attempt to commit a Hobbs Act robbery and using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.

Courthouse News Service

Expert testimony that defendant fired shot was improper

Failure to exclude expert opinion testimony by the lead detective as to the key issue in an attempted murder case - whether the defendant fired the bullet that struck the victim - was prejudicial error requiring reversal of the defendant’s conviction and a remand for a new trial, Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Ex-cop accused of stealing credit cards from people visiting inmates

A former Los Angeles Police Department officer has been indicted for allegedly stealing credit and debit cards from people visiting inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. “Edmond Babaians, a 15-year LAPD veteran, is charged with stealing debit and credit cards from four individuals as they entered through the security checkpoint at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles between approximately July 14 and July 23, 2023,” the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

KTLA

Medical testing company settles suit with Ventura County over claims of improperly handled wastes

A medical testing company has settled a lawsuit with Ventura County and nine other California counties over charges it improperly disposed of hazardous wastes and private patient information. The suit involved Quest Diagnostics. Prosecutors say in some instances, employees threw away hazardous wastes and medical wastes in normal trash containers.

KCLU

Two L.A. County men charged with armed robbery in connection with spree targeting massage parlors in L.A. and Orange Counties

Two Los Angeles County men were charged today in a federal criminal complaint alleging they committed more than a dozen armed robberies of massage parlors in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Andy Cuellar, 28, of Hawthorne, and Arturo Morales, 27, of Downey, were arrested last Friday and are scheduled to make their initial appearances tomorrow in United States District Court in Santa Ana.

U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release

Mother, daughter duo knew the dangers before deadly butt-lift gone wrong, prosecutors say

When a mother and daughter duo from Riverside administered a lethal dose of injectable silicone into 26-year-old Karissa Rajpaul’s buttocks at a home in Sherman Oaks in October 2019, killing her within hours of the procedure, the adverse results she showed almost immediately should not have come as a surprise, prosecutors said Tuesday, Feb. 20.

Los Angeles Daily News

‘You know what could happen if he talks’: Real estate fraud led to murder-for-hire plot, prosecutors say

One Monday evening in 2013, a gunman walked into Rigoberto Dupre’s auto repair shop in South Los Angeles and shot the 54-year-old in the back. A bullet to the chest and two more in the head finished him off. Dupre died shirtless and in bluejeans, lying on the floor of the business that he dreamed of one day expanding beyond the converted house it occupied on Florence Avenue.

Los Angeles Times

DA's Race

The race to unseat Gascón: Part two of two

The first debate in the race for Los Angeles County District Attorney to include all 12 candidates took place on Feb. 8 at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills, with the whole field squeezed onstage and arranged in order of money raised. Nathan Hochman, Jeff Chemerinsky, Jonathan Hatami, Eric Siddall, incumbent George Gascón, John McKinney, Maria Ramirez, Craig Mitchell, Debra Archuleta, David S. Milton, Lloyd “Bobcat” Masson, and Dan Kapelovitz all jockeyed for time to get their messages across in front of a crowd of mostly attorneys, hosted by the Westside Bar Association.

Beverly Hills Courier

Los Angeles County district attorney seeks reelection in contest focused on feeling of public safety

Los Angeles County voters are set to decide next month if embattled District Attorney George Gascón will remain the head of the nation’s largest prosecutor’s office in a race centered on perceptions of public safety. Gascón, who was elected in 2020 on a criminal justice platform alongside a wave of progressive prosecutors, faces 11 challengers in the March 5 non-partisan primary. Voting is already underway.

AP

Even with low approval rating, large field of candidates in race for LA DA helps George Gascón

Voting is underway in the primary for Los Angeles County District Attorney, and the large field with 12 candidates could help incumbent George Gascón, even though a poll released earlier this month by Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State University Long Beach, and the University of Southern California found 51% of voters disapprove of the job he's doing.

ABC7

DA candidates united in opposition to incumbent Gascon

Six candidates in the race for Los Angeles County District Attorney blasted incumbent George Gascon for his liberal policies at a series of South Bay debates last month. All claimed Gascon’s policies have increased crime and made people feel less safe in their communities. “It’s time ladies and gentlemen to restore order to the chaos that’s been inflicted on all of us, our families, our small businesses and our communities,” said Superior Court Judge Debra Archuleta.

Easy Reader & Peninsula Magazine

Les Moonves fined $11,000 for alleged interference in LAPD sexual assault investigation

Les Moonves, the former president and CEO of CBS, tried to influence now-retired LAPD Captain Cory Palka amid a sexual assault investigation against the executive, new documents from the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission found. The legal documents, made public on Friday and obtained by NBC4, revealed that Moonves agreed to pay an $11,250 fine on Feb. 5 for violating the city’s ethics code by “inducing” a city official to misuse his position for Moonves’ benefit.

Hollywood Reporter

Should Prop 47 be reformed? These officials say yes

About a decade ago, voters passed Prop 47, which classified retail theft under $950 as a misdemeanor, not a felony. But a new proposal could be on the November ballot. If passed, this proposal would reclassify theft with two or more prior convictions as "jail-eligible" felonies. Supporters of the reclassification aim to address the rise in smash-and-grab thefts in California's major cities, like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Fox11

47 changes look certain to get a November vote

The more time goes by since the 2014 passage of California’s Proposition 47, the more it’s clear that voters blundered in approving the initiative’s setting an absolute $950 floor value for a theft or burglary to be considered a felony. This ballot measure deprived judges of the right to decide whether a crime involving less than $950 value in merchandise or other goods might also be felonious.

Ventura County Star

Multiple mayors push for initiative to close Prop. 47 ‘loopholes'

Mayors throughout San Diego County came together to gather signatures and inform people about a new measure they want on the November ballot. They say it's a fix to address the loopholes stemming from proposition 47. “It really made what should be illegal … legal,” San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan said. About a decade ago, voters passed prop 47 in California. 

CBS8 San Diego

Convicted murderer granted probation release, DA decries decision

A convicted murderer and former gang member was granted a release on probation, said the Kern County District Attorney. Huitzilopochtli Cruz Gonzales was found by the California Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) to no longer pose a current and unreasonable risk to public safety. On Nov. 25, 1995, Gonzales, who was a gang member at the time, retaliated for an earlier gang rival fight that led to gunshots at Aldo's Night Club in Bakersfield.

BakersfieldNow

Harvard professor says ‘all hell broke loose’ when his study found no racial bias in police shootings

Harvard professor said that "all hell broke loose" and he was forced to go out in public with armed security after he published a study that found no evidence of racial bias in police shootings. During a sit-down conversation with Bari Weiss of The Free Press, Harvard Economics Professor Roland Fryer discussed the fallout from a 2016 study he published on racial bias in Houston policing.

Fox News

LA Times awarded legal fees after celebrity attorney’s libel suit failed

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Wendy Chang on Wednesday ordered celebrity attorney Mark Geragos to pay more than $200,000 in attorney fees to the Los Angeles Times. The $218,000 Geragos owes, first reported by Semafor’s Max Tani, stems from his failed libel suit against the LA Times over their coverage of a $37 million settlement for relatives of Armenian genocide victims.

Mediaite

Los Angeles City/County

How Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides made LAPD history (Video)

Pat Harvey sits with Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides to discuss her historical career.

KCAL News

L.A. ethics panel rejects proposed $11,250 fine for Leslie Moonves as too low

The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission on Wednesday unanimously rejected a proposed settlement between the city and former CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves, saying a tougher penalty is warranted for the executive, who has acknowledged interfering with a police investigation into sexual assault allegations against him. 

Los Angeles Times

L.A. creates task force to address copper theft

With copper theft impacting thousands of lights and other pieces of city property, the Los Angeles City Council authorized the creation of a task force on Wednesday. The Los Angeles Police Department and Bureau of Street Lighting will work together to combat “the spike in copper wire crimes in downtown L.A., Boyle Heights, El Sereno, and Lincoln Heights,” LAist reports.

KTLA

Federal judge asked to unseal FBI investigation of LADWP overbilling scandal and coverup

A consumer advocacy group has asked a federal judge in Los Angeles to unseal dozens of FBI search warrants and other documents that detail the criminal investigation into the efforts of some city officials to manipulate lawsuits stemming from the Department of Water and Power's overbilling debacle a decade ago.

NBC4

Oversight investigators find deputy gang ‘logo’ outside Los Angeles women’s jail

A deputy gang has left its mark at the women’s jail. County oversight officials touring the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood late last year spotted a new sticker on the wall of the jail’s parking garage a couple of feet from the elevator. It was a black-and-white image of a grinning skeleton in a cowboy hat - the symbol of the Regulators, a deputy gang affiliated with the Century sheriff’s station next door.

Los Angeles Times

California bill would force home owners, renters to report number of guns they own to insurance companies, government

On Friday, California Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D) introduced a bill that would require homeowner insurance companies to ask insurance applicants how many firearms they own and report it to the government. The Residential property insurance firearms bill AB-3067 is an addition to Section 2086 of the Insurance Code, and would require insurers to "update the contents of their applications for homeowners’ or renters’ insurance to include the questions regarding the presence, storage, and number of firearms by January 1, 2026."

The Post Millennial

Ex-Sheriff Alex Villanueva suspended from social media site X

Former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who is running for a spot on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said Monday that his primary account on X, formerly Twitter, was shut down after someone allegedly reported him for harassing his opponent in the race. “This morning I found out that my X or Twitter account was temporarily suspended,” Villanueva said in a video posted to Instagram. “This is straight dirty politics 101.”

Los Angeles Times

Mexico’s lawsuit against US gunmakers could drive manufacturers into bankruptcy

The government of Mexico is suing U.S. gun-makers for their role in facilitating cross-border gun trafficking that has supercharged violent crime in Mexico. The lawsuit seeks $10 billion in damages and a court order to force the companies named in the lawsuit - including Smith & Wesson, Colt, Glock, Beretta and Ruger - to change the way they do business.

Truthout

Chinese cyberattacks are reaching a "fever pitch," says FBI chief

Cyberattacks that Chinese hackers orchestrate on the US are reaching a "fever pitch," says FBI director Christopher Wray. Wray was speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Thursday, where he flagged the massive cyber threat posed by China. "In fact, China-sponsored hackers pre-positioned for potential cyberattacks against US oil and natural gas companies way back in 2011," Wray said in his remarks.

Business Insider

An online dump of Chinese hacking documents offers a rare window into pervasive state surveillance

Chinese police are investigating an unauthorized and highly unusual online dump of documents from a private security contractor linked to the nation's top policing agency and other parts of its government - a trove that catalogs apparent hacking activity and tools to spy on both Chinese and foreigners.

AP

California watchdog predicts deficit will grow to $73 billion

California’s deficit will likely get worse by the time Governor Gavin Newsom releases his revised budget in May. The state Legislative Analyst’s Office said Tuesday its revenue forecasts indicate lawmakers will need to find another $15 billion to make ends meet. An estimated $58 billion deficit - forecast by the analyst’s office last month - has grown to $73 billion.

Courthouse News Service

Crime

Minnesota man arrested in killing of LA model pleads not guilty to murder, torture charges

A 41-year-old Minnesota man arrested in connection with the September killing of a model, who was severely beaten, bound, gagged and stuffed inside the refrigerator of her downtown Los Angeles apartment, pleaded not guilty Thursday at a court appearance. Magnus Daniel Humphrey, who is on probation for federal narcotics offenses, was taken into custody Wednesday at his home in Minnesota on an unrelated federal warrant, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

City News Service & NBC4

Sharon Stone ex-LAPD officers don't buy O.J. tale

Sharon Stone claims LAPD officers came to her home during the O.J. Simpson chase and whisked her away - but cops who were on the force back then don't have any such memory. David Gascon - who was a commander at the LAPD's Media Relations department during the O.J. years - tells TMZ ... he's never heard of cops showing up to Sharon's crib on June 17, 1994, when officers were in hot pursuit of Simpson during that infamous televised low-speed chase.

TMZ

California’s push for ethnic studies runs into the Israel-Hamas war

California has grand ambitions for ethnic studies. By 2025, the state’s public high schools - about 1,600 of them - must teach the subject. By 2030, students won’t be able to graduate high school without it. For policymakers, a goal is to give California students, 80 percent of whom are nonwhite, the opportunity to study a diverse array of cultures.

New York Times

Does everyone deserves a PR rep? Communications experts are split

While everyone deserves representation in a court of law, communications experts are split on whether everyone deserves PR representation. Why it matters: Recent settlements have highlighted the risks associated with client work and the ethical dilemmas many agencies are forced to consider. 

Axios

Charles Barkley blasts San Francisco during All-Star Game, describes it as city with 'homeless crooks’

Charles Barkley ripped the city of San Francisco on Sunday during TNT’s alternative broadcast of the NBA All-Star Game as he talked to Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller. Barkley asked Miller which he would choose: playing in the cold in Indianapolis - where Miller spent his entire 18-year NBA career - or "being around a bunch of homeless crooks in San Francisco.”

Fox News

Administrative betrayal: Why the silence of leaders is the greatest trauma for many LEOs

In 2023, Police1 conducted a sweeping survey of over 4,100 officers to explore the biggest issues for recruitment and retention in law enforcement. Within the survey results, this latent truth emerges with clarity: It may not be the trauma on the streets, but rather the trauma of administrative betrayal within police departments that is causing officers to leave in droves.

Police 1

Oklahoma man pleads guilty to federal threats charge and admits to telephoning bomb threats to five schools in Los Angeles

An Oklahoma man who grew up in Los Angeles pleaded guilty today to a federal criminal charge for telephoning bomb threats to five Los Angeles schools, including two elementary schools, and threatened to shoot the children as they exited one of the elementary schools.

U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release

Encino tax preparer pleads guilty to aiding client in $400K IRS fraud, faces 3 years in prison

An Encino tax preparer is headed to the slammer after pleading guilty to playing fast and loose with the IRS to the tune of over $400,000. Bijan Kohanzad, the 62-year-old owner of an Encino tax preparation company, is now staring down a possible three-year federal prison stint after admitting to aiding and abetting a client in filing a fraudulent tax return.

Hoodline