Courts/Rulings & Lawsuits

C.A. affirms attempted murder conviction in case involving ‘drunken’ attack on officer

Div. Six of this district’s Court of Appeal yesterday rejected the contention of a defendant, who was accused of attempted murder for trying to shoot a Pismo Beach Police officer with a misloaded firearm, that a trial judge erred by instructing the jury that it could consider evidence of the suspect’s voluntary intoxication “only” in deciding whether he had acted with the intent to kill when the issue was also relevant to allegations of premeditation and deliberation.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

LA city attorney files antitrust lawsuit vs. fire truck manufacturers

Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto is suing truck manufacturers and dealers over an alleged multi-year scheme to fix prices, rig bids, restrict supply and reduce competition in the fire apparatus industry, her office announced Tuesday. In the Los Angeles County Superior Court antitrust lawsuit, city attorneys allege that the conduct by the dealers and the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers’ Association increased costs for the city and communities across California.

MyNewsLA

California prison guards look to toss inmate death, desecration suit

Despite knowing that a California inmate posed serious risks to others, prison officials still placed him in a cell with another person, leading to a death, attorney Erin Darling told a federal judge on Friday. Therefore, Darling argued, prison officials’ latest attempts to scuttle a lawsuit over the incident should be denied.

Courthouse News Service

S.F. judge will stop insisting on use of the N-word in court

Unlike his judicial colleagues, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman has used the "n-word" in court for years when quoting people in criminal cases, saying it was needed for an accurate record and for understanding the speakers' motives. But three days after a report on his practices by the Chronicle, court officials said Monday that Dorfman has agreed to a change.

San Francisco Chronicle

She put money into CalPERS for decades. It demanded she repay $1 million over a part-time job

Linda Samsom couldn’t sleep the night she received the letter from her pension fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. It said she broke California pension law with a part-time job advising the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department after she retired from a long career in local government. She made about $80,000 in the time she worked for Yolo County, and for that CalPERS demanded she pay back every penny she took home from her $10,000 a month pension over that period: $1,050,875. 

CalMatters

Supreme Court dismisses immigration case that was scheduled for argument in October

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a case that had been scheduled for argument in October after U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer notified the court that the case is now moot and the challenger agreed that it should be removed from the oral argument docket. In Genalo v. Black, the justices had been set to consider at what point, if any, certain noncitizens have a right to a bond hearing during a lengthy detention and what the government must show to justify continued detention if such a hearing is indeed required.

SCOTUSblog

Minor ‘possessed firearm’ by controlling one who fired it

Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has held that there was sufficient proof to support allegations that a minor was in possession of a firearm that was used in a October 2024 shooting at the San Diego State University campus based on video surveillance depicting actions consistent with his taking a “leadership” role over the group from which shots were fired even if there were no allegations that he ever personally handled the gun, drawing dissent.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Woman was killed after Uber driver left her on a freeway. Uber's been ordered to pay $40 million

After a night out with a friend, Emily Normandin-Parker called an Uber but never made it home. The 23-year-old UCLA graduate was hit and killed by another car on the freeway after her Uber driver pulled over on California 73 and ordered her and her friend to get out of the vehicle. Judge Richard Stone ordered Uber to pay $40 million to Normandin-Parker's parents, concluding that the company is responsible for its driver's conduct, according to a news release from Panish, Shea, Ravipudi, the law firm representing the couple. 

Los Angeles Times

SUV driver who slammed into bus in Chatsworth charged with 2nd degree murder, was driving high: DA

The woman accused of slamming her SUV into a Metro bus in Chatsworth, killing two people and injuring five others, was charged with second-degree murder. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the charges against Bailee Rios, 36, of Simi Valley, during a news conference on Thursday.

ABC7 Los Angeles

Feds raid home near South LA as part of homeless aid fraud probe

Federal agents in Los Angeles on Wednesday arrested three people accused of homelessness corruption and fraud, including a founder of a Culver City-based nonprofit who allegedly misappropriated more than $7.5 million in taxpayer funds and used the money for commercial real estate and the construction of a nightclub and bingo hall.

City News Service

Federal authorities allege more than $10M in childcare payment fraud in California

Federal authorities charged a dozen people Tuesday for fraudulently collecting more than $10 million in government childcare payments, when the operators had few or even no actual children attending their facilities. The charges, jointly announced in San Diego by the Justice Department and the criminal investigations division of the IRS, are the latest effort by the Trump administration to investigate and charge alleged cases of fraud and waste in government programs.

Associated Press

Murder charges dropped in killing of attorney outside Rolling Hills Estates home

Murder charges were dismissed Monday against a 73-year-old man accused of orchestrating the execution-style killing of an attorney outside his Rolling Hills Estates home, after prosecutors said Montenegro's extradition decision prevented them from pursuing the counts. Richard Wall Sr. remains charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the 2009 killing of attorney Jeffrey Tidus and the 2011 killing of former employee Juan Mendez, according to City News Service.

Palos Verdes Patch

2 Oakland police helicopter pilots accused of conspiring with inspector in FAA fraud case

Two Oakland police helicopter pilots are accused of conspiring with a Federal Aviation Administration inspector to falsify required flight tests and obtain pilot certifications they were not entitled to, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday. Officers David Mac and Brandon Mart, members of the Oakland Police Department's Air Support Unit, pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges tied to the alleged scheme.

ABC7 Los Angeles

Former football booster club treasurer is accused of stealing $400K

It’s a game night for Aliso Niguel High School in Southern California, but this Friday, the booster club’s website posted a stark message about a former club officer indicted on charges of stealing more than $400,000 raised for the team. Smack above photos of players in uniform and the rally slogan “Football First, Family Always and Community Forever,” the Wolverine Football Club posted: “We are aware of the recent developments regarding the former treasurer. We have been cooperating fully with law enforcement throughout this process and will continue to do so.”

NBC News

Nevada County DA faces scrutiny after prosecutors allegedly used generative AI that fabricated facts

The Nevada County District Attorney is facing scrutiny after prosecutors allegedly used generative artificial intelligence that fabricated facts that ended up in their criminal cases. One defendant's legal team called the DA's actions shocking, citing the growing concern that courts have "struggled to respond" to the "widespread use of generative artificial intelligence."

CBS News Sacramento

Nick Reiner will not face death penalty in killings of his parents, prosecutor says

California prosecutors announced they will not seek the death penalty against Michele and Rob Reiner’s son Nick, who has been charged with murder in the killing of his parents. Nick Reiner, who turned 33 on Monday, faces two counts of first-degree murder in the killings and an added allegation of lying in wait, according to an indictment unsealed last month. He has pleaded not guilty.

CNN

Policy/Legal/Politics

LA County court approves placement of sexually violent predator in Lancaster

The Los Angeles County Superior Court has approved the placement of sexually violent predator Harold Wachter in the city of Lancaster, overruling intense opposition from local prosecutors, community members, and elected officials. Wachter, who has a history of sexual crimes against children, is slated to move into a home in the Antelope Valley following his conditional release from state custody.

L.A. County District Attorney’s Office Press Release

DSA on one side, labor and cops on the other: South Bay independents get the deciding vote

The question of where socialism goes next in America will not be answered in New York. It will be answered 3,000 miles west, in places like California's South Bay. Candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America and its regional affiliates have proven consistently effective inside closed Democratic primaries, where a compact and motivated bloc can carry a race and nobody outside the party is ever consulted.

Independent Voter News

Black investigator in DA’s office tentatively settles harassment lawsuit

A Black woman who alleged she was harassed while working as an investigator in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has reached a tentative settlement in her lawsuit against her employer. Sgt. Karen Pewitt’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleged that individuals within the Bureau of Investigation bully personnel to muzzle their equity complaints.

2 Urban Girls

Grieving widow scorches Santa Monica after sheriff husband blown up in grenade explosion: suit

The widow of a sheriff who was blown up and killed by a grenade along with two colleagues last year blames the city of Santa Monica for his death, according to a new lawsuit. Shannon Rincon alleges bosses should have provided important details about the military-style weapon before it exploded on July 18, 2025, the documents claim.

California Post

LAPD seized 200 cars in one night. The real story is what changed in Sacramento

Over Labor Day weekend, more than 150 Los Angeles Police Department officers, backed by the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, converged on the Harbor Gateway area for what the department called “Operation Street Sweeper.” Using drone surveillance and advance intelligence, officers tracked four planned street-takeover gatherings before they converged into a single mass event at Figueroa Street and Alondra Boulevard, where an estimated 700 people had gathered to block the intersection and run burnouts and donuts.

The Auto Wire

California appeals court blocks SF's empty homes tax, property-owner attorneys praise ruling

A California appeals court has blocked San Francisco's Empty Homes Tax, ruling Friday that the voter-approved measure conflicts with property owners' rights under state law. The unanimous decision concerns Proposition M, which was intended to encourage vacant units back onto the rental market by taxing apartments left empty for six months or more; possible further review means the litigation is not necessarily over.

Hoodline

City moves to dismiss Crowley lawsuit over removal of fire chief

The city is asking a judge to throw out former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley’s lawsuit over her removal following the deadly Palisades Fire. The case centers on two competing accounts. The city says Mayor Karen Bass removed Crowley because of leadership failures surrounding the fire. Crowley says Bass punished her for repeatedly warning City Hall about staffing, equipment and funding problems at the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Westside Current

The deal that helped bring SoFi Stadium to Inglewood isn’t legally valid, judge rules 

The contract Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium was built on is void, a judge ruled, upending a 10-year-old deal at the center of a larger fight between the city and the stadium developer. Companies tied to Stan Kroenke and his Hollywood Park stadium property say Inglewood owes them about $400 million under the agreement that had the companies pay for the development’s infrastructure up front in exchange for future reimbursement.

The LA Local

Southern California

City to audit street sweeping tickets following L.A. Material investigation

After an L.A. Material investigation this summer found that the City of L.A. issued nearly $1 million worth of street sweeping tickets on days when workers didn’t actually sweep the streets, the Department of Transportation downplayed the problem. The agency said that while it occasionally issues tickets in error, it “proactively dismisses” them soon after and “sends instructions for reimbursement to motorists” who have already paid.

L.A. Material

Meet the two candidates going head-to-head to lead the office that represents the city of L.A. in all legal matters.

With incumbent L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto ousted in the June primary, front-place finisher Marissa Roy and runner-up John McKinney are going head-to-head to lead the office that represents the city of L.A. in all legal matters. McKinney, who’s getting a push from local prosecutors and law enforcement, is prioritizing public safety and neighborhood protection.

LAist

OnlyFans model probed for possibly drugging Beverly Hills billionaire with ketamine, warrant says

The police investigation into a social media influencer accused of ripping off wealthy suitors has expanded to include whether she drugged her onetime billionaire fiancé with ketamine, according to a police search warrant reviewed by The Times. Adva Lavie, an OnlyFans model, already is facing criminal charges in Los Angeles County for allegedly seducing and stealing from rich men.

Los Angeles Times

Cluster of abandoned boats clogs Southern California harbor

Residents in the Marina del Rey harbor are concerned about a massive cluster of abandoned boats they say could become a safety hazard. The boats were impounded by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, but it's unclear what they plan to do with them. A Marina del Rey man said he's on a mission to remove these boats and also raise awareness, saying the problem has gotten worse over the last several years.

KTLA Los Angeles

Public Safety

Can you ride a minibike on LA streets? What the law says

The scene on the 6th Street Bridge on Sunday was hard to miss: Crowds of young people with minibikes were corralled along the bridge, some with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. More than 70 people were cited, and dozens of minibikes were impounded during a Los Angeles Police Department enforcement operation targeting “illegal motorized mini-bike activity.”

Boyle Heights Beat

Train robbers set CA freight car on fire

Robbers set ablaze a BNSF train as it traveled through Riverside early Thursday, Sept. 17, forcing the engineer to stop and allowing the thieves to swoop in and burglarize freight cars, according to the freight carrier and Riverside Fire Department. It’s part of a growing trend of increasingly bold train robberies where organized groups steal thousands of dollars of cargo and resell it.

Riverside Press-Enterprise

Man shot in eye at busy North Hollywood intersection

Police are investigating a shooting in North Hollywood that left a man with serious injuries Thursday afternoon. Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood Division responded to the intersection of Lankershim Boulevard and Vanowen Street just before 4 p.m. on reports of an assault with a deadly weapon, LAPD Officer Jader Chaves confirmed to KTLA.

KTLA Los Angeles

Stabbing call leads to officer-involved shooting of armed man in Hollywood Hills

Officers responding to a report of a stabbing shot an armed suspect in the Hollywood Hills on Saturday night, according to authorities. A Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson told KTLA that the original call regarding the stabbing came out at 9:34 p.m. in the 9300 block of Warbler Way, which sits in the Bird Streets neighborhood.

KTLA Los Angeles

27,000 feet of LADWP cable stolen as leaders push for crackdown on metal theft

Local politicians, law enforcement officials and business leaders are urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill they say would help crack down on copper theft rings responsible for cutting phone service and leaving streetlights dark across Los Angeles and other Californian cities. New data obtained by 7 On Your Side Investigates through records requests shows the scale of the problem.

ABC7 Los Angeles

Federal investigation into Newsom reportedly involves nonprofit that funds his travel

Federal investigators are reportedly examining Gov. Gavin Newsom's international travel and the California State Protocol Foundation, which helps fund it, according to subpoenas reviewed by the San Francisco Standard. The subpoenas, issued earlier this month, reportedly request six years of records from the foundation, testimony, and communications involving Newsom, as well as current and former aides and advisors.

KCRA Sacramento

California high-speed rail consultants billed taxpayers for a private plane, tiki bars and cigar lounges  

California High-Speed Rail Authority officials rubber-stamped hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel charges incurred by outside consultants, according to a new report from the state's inspector general. The lavish spending revelations come as the $126 billion project has become a national symbol of government waste.

FoxBusiness

A federal judge believes DA Larry Krasner may have broken the law, and he referred the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office

A federal judge said Tuesday that District Attorney Larry Krasner may have broken the law while overseeing a contentious post-conviction case, and he said he referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate whether Krasner should be charged with crimes including conspiracy or obstruction of justice.

The Philadelphia Inquirer

After a backlash over votes on sex offenders, two California parole board members were dropped

The leader of California’s Senate effectively removed two commissioners from the state’s Board of Parole Hearings this June after releases they granted caused a public backlash. The commissioners, Patricia Cassady and Teal Kozel, had already served nine and three years on the board respectively when they separately approved for release David Funston and Gregory Vogelsang, each of whom was serving a life sentence for sexual crimes committed against Sacramento-area children in the 1990s. 

CalMatters

UCLA chancellor rebukes law school event with 9/11 ‘mastermind' attorney; organizers push back

In a rare rebuke of a campus event, UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk on Friday distanced the university from a law school symposium about the 9/11 terrorist attacks that faced criticism for including a lawyer for alleged 9/11 "mastermind" Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, prompting push-back from faculty who said a just legal system requires that even the most vile defendants receive legal defense.

Los Angeles Times

The Nigerian chief who made millions from Medi-Cal

Last December, Chief Nathan Ogbatue arrived in a motorcade outside the grand entrance of a newly built palace in Abatete, Nigeria. A videographer shouted praises in Igbo, calling him “half man, half god” and commending him for building the palace “free of charge” for the Abatete community. Ogbatue is hailed on social media as a philanthropist who has built roads and housing, sponsors annual medical clinics, and provides food for the needy in Abatete.

California Post

Architect of billionaire tax tried to 'extort' support for the measure and targeted women, union reports find

SEIU United Healthcare Workers West President Dave Regan allegedly tried to "extort" an SEIU state council endorsement of the billionaire tax ballot measure from other California union leaders, according to an investigation commissioned by Service Employees International Union.

Los Angeles Times

Will Hayden Panettiere's death uncover a supplier like Matthew Perry's 'Ketamine queen’?

Federal authorities probing the death of actor Hayden Panettiere are focusing on where the drugs and medications that played a role in her death came from, echoing similar probes that resulted in charges for suppliers in the deaths of Matthew Perry and Mac Miller.

Los Angeles Times

LA County supervisors delay motion that would investigate and hold police gangs accountable

Banditos, Compton Executioners, Ghetto Birds, Little Red Devils and Wayside Whities are just a few of the 27 identified deputy gangs within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) that were listed in an L.A. County motion that seeks to bring more accountability and further investigation into police gangs. 

CALO News

California woman killed by stalker after years of terror

The woman brutally slain outside of a Panera by a long-time stalker has been identified Thursday, according to the Sacramento County coroner. Shalini Thakur, 38, was getting dropped off at work in the shopping plaza along Howe Avenue and Northrop Avenue when 22-year-old Rohit Rohit approached her and confronted her, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said. Thakur tried to run away, but Rohit shot her multiple times.

KCRA Sacramento

Convictions/Pleas/Sentences/Parole

Former L.A. county sheriff's deputy sentenced to nearly 2 years in prison for violating civil rights while providing off-duty security for crypto criminal

A former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputy was sentenced today to 21 months in federal prison for abusing his status as a law enforcement officer to threaten and intimidate adversaries of a now-imprisoned, self-proclaimed cryptocurrency businessman, and for cheating on his taxes.

U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release

California man pleads guilty to bombing courthouse after deputies took away his guns

A California man pleaded guilty Monday to detonating a bomb at a Santa Maria courthouse in 2024, seriously injuring three people, in an attack intended as retaliation for local law enforcement officials seizing his firearms earlier this year. The U.S. Department of Justice said 22-year-old Nathaniel James McGuire pleaded guilty to one count of use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of malicious destruction of a building using an explosive. 

ABC10 Sacramento 

Compton man sentenced for assaulting federal officer during anti-ICE protest

A Compton man was sentenced Friday to three years in federal prison for throwing rocks and injuring a federal officer during a June 2025 immigration enforcement operation near a Home Depot store in Paramount. Elpidio Reyna, 42, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha. Reyna pleaded guilty Feb. 17 to a single count of assault on a federal officer by deadly or dangerous weapon resulting in bodily injury, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

City News Service

Four-times deported illegal immigrant from Mexico sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for fentanyl trafficking

A four-times deported illegal alien from Mexico was sentenced today to 135 months in prison for knowingly selling more than pound quantities of fentanyl pills to a buyer to whom he also sold firearms and ammunition. Antonio Espinoza Zarate, 56, a.k.a. “El Gato,” of the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles, was sentenced by United States District Judge Wesley L. Hsu. Espinoza pleaded guilty on May 7 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl.

U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release

Southern California man sentenced to prison for stabbing father to death

A Ventura County man was sentenced to prison for stabbing his father to death. Gerardo Arroyo Almanza, 37, of Simi Valley, had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and three counts of criminal threats against his family members on Aug. 3, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said. On the morning of April 6, 2024, several family members drove to Almanza’s home near East Pinecrest Street and North Justin Avenue to check on his well-being.

KTLA5 Los Angeles

Man gets 50 to life for sexual assaults on 2 girls in Westminster

A 64-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 50 years to life in prison for sexually assaulting two young girls in Westminster he met through his girlfriend. Ihsan Youssif Iskandar was convicted Aug. 17 of two counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor and three counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a minor younger than 14, all felonies.

MyNewsLA

Man who stole Guy Fieri’s car as a teen loses chance at freedom over prison cellphone

An infamous Marin County man convicted of several audacious crimes won’t be released from prison anytime soon. At 17 years old, Max Wade stole celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s $200,000 Lamborghini to impress a girl and, months later, tried to shoot a man who was dating that same girl. When detectives came to arrest him at a Richmond storage center, he brandished a loaded gun, according to police.

Los Angeles Times

Producer’s defamation-by-implication suit was a SLAPP

The Court of Appeal for this district has reversed an order denying an anti-SLAPP motion in an action by a man who was producer/creator/writer of children’s television programs who claims to have been falsely portrayed, by implication, as a sexual child abuser in a five-part documentary, “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” aired in 2024 on Warner Brothers’ Investigation Discovery cable network and streamed on HBO Max.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Paramount's possible Hollywood exit puts Los Angeles on edge

Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison faces a pivotal decision: Should he uproot his Hollywood studio - the birthplace of such film classics as "Sunset Boulevard," "The Godfather" and "Beverly Hills Cop”? Paramount floated shifting its home base to Tennessee or Texas in July, hoping to deter California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta from waging a legal battle to block Paramount's $111-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Los Angeles Times

Ninth Circuit revives $1 billion 'Kia Boys' theft insurance suit

Kia and Hyundai are back in federal court over a theft wave that made national headlines for years, and this time insurers hold the wheel. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a dismissal on September 14, ordering a Santa Ana judge to reopen claims worth more than $1 billion. About 200 insurance companies allege that the automakers' Korean parent entities knowingly shipped vehicles without engine immobilizers into California ports.

Los Angeles Times/Motor1