Date-Rape Kits to Be Required at Bars; Gascon's Staff Endorses Hochman for Next District Attorney; Violent Crime Up According to LAPD; LinkedIn Getting Sued; Chinese Hackers Attacking US Businesses; and other Stories: Monday Morning Memo

Courts, Rulings and Lawsuits

Photographic lineup was not unduly suggestive

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday that a judge properly granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of a prosecutor who, the defendant claimed, approved an unreasonably suggestive photo lineup. A three-judge panel - comprised of Judge Morgan Christen and Senior Judges Sidney R. Thomas and M. Margaret McKeown - affirmed a summary judgment awarded to defendant Melissa Dooher who was an Alameda County assistant district attorney at the time of the events complained of by plaintiff Kevin Collins.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

L.A. leaders launch program to help unhoused people navigate court system

Los Angeles city and county leaders launched a legal service program Thursday that helps unhoused people resolve legal problems that could limit their access to housing and social services. The Community Outreach Court, the first of its kind in the city, aims to streamline the criminal court process for homeless people and those at-risk of homelessness.

Los Angeles Times

LAPD officer kept shooting after suspect was down, but court says law protects her

Ruling on one of the most controversial and closely watched LAPD shootings in recent years, a federal appellate court said Thursday that the legal doctrine of qualified immunity protects officer Toni McBride from federal claims in the fatal 2020 shooting of Daniel Hernandez. McBride is shielded by the law regardless of whether she used excessive force when shooting Hernandez six times, the last two when he was already badly wounded and on the ground, the court said.

Los Angeles Times

Amended felony-murder rule does not require assisting in actual killing

An accomplice may be convicted under the felony-murder rule - to the extent it was not abolished by 2018 legislation - under circumstances where the person does not assist in the killing, Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held on Friday, in a 2-1 opinion. "A person who, with an intent to kill, directly commits or aids and abets an enumerated felony in which a death occurs commits the actus reus necessary for felony murder under the amended felony-murder statute by acting in furtherance of the common design of the felony," Justice Thomas A. Delaney said, writing for the majority.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Ninth Circuit dumps appeal based on lawyer's duplicity

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday struck an appellants' brief, because it was stuffed with false representations of law, and dismissed the appeal. Circuit Judge Roopali H. Desai authored the opinion. The appeal is from a summary judgment granted by District Court Senior Judge James V. Selna in favor of the City of Long Beach and police officer Gabriela Rodriguez-Lopez in an action brought by Larry Grant and his daughter, Pherin Cephus, a minor.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Workers should be compensated for waiting at security checks, California Supreme Court says

The California Supreme Court on Monday agreed that workers who are stuck in their cars and trucks for as long as 30 minutes to go through security at their jobs should get paid for their time. The state's top court resolved this question at the request of the Ninth Circuit in a class action brought by employees at a solar plant in rural California.

Courthouse News Service

DA's Race

LA Deputy District Attorneys endorse Nathan Hochman

Even with a few primary votes remaining to be counted, the Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) - the deputys' union - has already made known who it wants to win the November runoff: Nathan Hochman. In the primary election earlier this month, Hochman placed second to incumbent District Attorney George Gascon and while the fact of the endorsement comes as no surprise the swiftness is surely mean to send a clear message to LA county voters: get rid of Gascon.

California Globe

'It's a fight': What the race for LA County DA tells us about criminal justice reform

When L.A. County voters went to the polls earlier this month, three out of four chose a candidate other than George Gascón, the sitting district attorney who came to office amid a wave of calls for criminal justice reform. Those primary results have forced the incumbent into a November runoff with former federal prosecutor, Nathan Hochman, who has promised to reverse Gascón's policies.

LAist

Prosecutors

Woman charged in L.A. with hacking email of pop star Selena Gomez

A 21-year-old woman who prosecutors say hacked into the email accounts of pop star and actress Selena Gomez and posted photos she found there online has been charged with identity theft and fraud, Los Angeles prosecutors said on Friday. Susan Atrach is accused of accessing Gomez' accounts several times from June 2015 to February 2016 and obtaining images and other media stored there, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office said in a written statement.

Reuters

Recalled San Francisco DA says victims don't have rights under the Constitution

Crime victims don't have rights under the Constitution, former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was recalled by voters in 2022 amid an escalation of crime, said during a conference here at UC Berkeley School of Law. Boudin's surprising comment came as part of a larger debate between the Left and Right on criminal justice issues at the March 8 gathering, called "Justice Unveiled: Debating Crime and Public Safety Conference."

The Daily Signal

Homes of Sean 'Diddy' Combs searched by federal officials, sources say

Sean "Diddy" Combs is a subject of a federal investigation amid a wave of lawsuits that have been filed against the rap music mogul since November, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News on Monday. Three women and a man have been interviewed by federal officials in Manhattan in relation to allegations of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and the solicitation and distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms, the source said.

NBC News

Palmdale man is charged in L.A. Live killing

A Palmdale man was one of two men arrested and charged in connection with the shooting death of a diner in what authorities say was an apparently targeted attack last November at a restaurant at L.A. Live, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday. Santana Jermaine Kelly, 50, of Palmdale, and Phillip Pasco Clark, 33, of Los Angeles, were taken into custody last Friday by Los Angeles police following a lengthy investigation into the Nov. 28 slaying of Sidney Barrett Morris in the Fixins Soul Kitchen at 800 West Olympic Blvd., authorities said.

Antelope Valley Press

Rodney King lawyer charged with tax evasion in Los Angeles

A lawyer who represented Rodney King after he was beaten by Los Angeles police officers in 1991, setting the stage for the L.A. riots the following year, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for tax evasion and willfully failing to pay more than $2.4 million in taxes, prosecutors said on Friday. The attorney, Milton Grimes, was charged with one count of attempted tax evasion and four counts of willful failure to pay taxes, the Los Angeles U.S. attorney said.

Reuters

Seven hackers tied to Chinese government indicted in target of US businesses and politicians

Seven individuals associated with the Chinese government's intelligence services targeted thousands of individuals in the U.S. and other countries - including political officials - as part of a series of China-based hacking operations, according to an indictment unsealed Monday. Federal prosecutors say the individuals were part of a private Chinese hacking company established by the Hubei State Security Department based in Wuhan, China.

Courthouse News Service

Facebook

The California State Bar admits they should have disbarred discredited lawyer Tom Girardi sooner - shown here with former wife, TV star Erika Jayne

Policy/Legal/Political

Retail theft proving troublesome for California lawmakers looking to stay progressive

Facing mounting pressure to crack down on a retail theft crisis, California lawmakers are split on how best to tackle the problem that some say has caused major store closures and products like deodorants to be locked behind plexiglass. Top Democratic leaders have already ruled out reforming progressive policies like Proposition 47, a ballot measure approved by 60% of state voters in 2014 that reduced certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors to address overcrowding jails.

AP

San Diego County elected leaders call for California Proposition 47 reform

Elected leaders across San Diego County gathered near Oceanside City Hall on Saturday to collect signatures to reform California's Proposition 47. Those leaders include San Diego County District Attorney summer Stephan, San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez and Oceanside Councilmember Ryan Keim. "Prop 47 was a good idea, but it is an idea that went too far and caused a lot of harm to our public safety," Stephan said.

NBC7 San Diego

LinkedIn can't dodge monopoly class action over premium subscription

A federal judge allowed claims to proceed against LinkedIn from a class of users who say the company has a monopoly over the professional networking market, allowing it to charge more money for its premium service. The plaintiffs are subscribers to LinkedIn Premium, which provides paying users with additional features on the business and employment-focused social media site. Subscriptions range from $14.99 to $99.95 per month.

Courthouse News Service

Legislators debate retail theft, fentanyl, Prop. 47 at Capitol Weekly crime conference

Assemblyman Kevin McCarty said "well over half of the legislature" wants to address retail theft in California and they know it can't be comprehensively addressed without a ballot measure during a recent Capitol Weekly conference on crime. "Two things can be true," said the Sacramento Democrat said during "The Legacy and Future of Prop. 47" panel at Capitol Weekly's March 21 "A Conference on Crime" at the California Endowment's Adelante Meeting Room in downtown Sacramento.

Capitol Weekly

Los Angeles City/County

LA, Long Beach ports may see increase in cargo traffic as a result of Baltimore bridge tragedy

Shipping companies could re-route some cargo vessels to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as a result of the collapse of portions of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore harbor, a cargo industry expert told the NBC4 I-Team. "It has an incredible ripple effect," Alex Cherin said of the Baltimore tragedy, in which six construction workers were presumed dead after a cargo ship struck one of the bridge's support columns, causing the collapse Tuesday.

NBC4

Is LA County putting itself at legal risk by sending light-duty probation officers home?

A new mandate forcing Los Angeles County probation officers physically unable to work in the juvenile halls to stay home could expose the county to significant liability as it potentially violates federal laws requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations to injured and disabled workers, according to legal experts.

Los Angeles Daily News

Lack of buses keeps LA jail inmates from court, adds to overcrowding

Up to one-third of the 12,000 inmates in Los Angeles County jails can't get to their court appearances because of a shortage of functioning buses, and county supervisors this week advanced a proposal to try and fix the problem. The LA County Sheriff's Department currently has only 23 operable buses out of a total of 82, and there have been days when as few as six were running, supervisors said.

AP

Sun Valley's RV crisis: Broken promises, unfulfilled plans, and a community in desperation

Los Angeles City Council District 6 stretches nearly 20 miles across the San Fernando Valley floor, from Sun Valley west through Van Nuys to Lake Balboa. It crosses three freeways: 5, 170, and 405. Large clusters of parked vans, cars, and RVs dot the district, forming homeless camps that are a major concern for all residents, especially in Sun Valley that has turned into a massive illegal RV lot inviting homeless and others from all over LA.

CityWatch LA

Injured motorcyclist wins $11 million in lawsuit against DWP

A jury awarded more than $11 million to a motorcyclist seriously injured in a collision with a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power vehicle in 2019. "The city of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power fought us every step of the way," plaintiff's attorney Robert Glassman said about the verdict on Friday, March 22, in Van Nuys Superior Court in favor of his client, Grady Dillon.

City News Service

Former LAPD sergeant ties firing to Internal Affairs Division criticisms

A former Los Angeles police sergeant is suing the city, alleging she was targeted for termination in 2023 because of her claims that the Internal Affairs Division tries to silence some officers and fire others in order to get promotions. Ex-Sgt. Sarah Dunster's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges whistleblower protection, retaliation, failure to prevent harassment, discrimination and retaliation and wrongful discharge. She seeks unspecified damages in the suit brought Thursday.

City News Service

Government prosecutors seek to protect the "privacy" of city officials entangled in web of corruption related to DWP billing scandal, says consumer watchdog

While broadly supporting public disclosure, the United States Attorneys' Office is seeking to redact the names of former City Attorney Mike Feuer and other City and DWP leadership from approximately 1,400 pages of warrant materials in connection to a now-closed investigation. The government's investigation came in the wake of the DWP's botched launch of a new billing system in 2013 that cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Consumer Watchdog

Homeowners affected by LA County's PACE program to receive financial relief from $12 million dollar settlement

After six years of litigation, an LA County judge gave preliminary approval of a $12 million settlement over the county's PACE or Property Assessed Clean Energy program launched in 2015 on Monday. The Los Angeles County and private lender partner, Renew America, will pay the settlement. A second private lender involved, Renovate America, has since filed for bankruptcy. The program was intended to allow residents to use the equity in their homes to finance energy efficiency and water-saving improvements.

Spectrum News1

California/National

Cook County judge favors Chicago police union in discipline dispute with city council

The Circuit Court of Cook County handed Chicago progressives and police reform advocates a partial defeat on Thursday, siding in large part with the city's police union in a long running legal fight over the issue of police discipline. The ruling by Judge Michael Mullen specifies that Chicago police facing dismissal or suspension of more than a year can take their case to labor arbitration. For decades, those severe misconduct cases have been handled publicly by the city's police board.

Courthouse News Service

'Don't get roofied': New California law to require date-rape testing kits at bars

A new law is set to go into effect in California this summer that will require bars and night clubs serving alcoholic beverages to offer kits for testing common date-rape drugs. AB 1013, introduced by Asm. Josh Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), requires bars with a Type 48 license from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to offer the date-rape drug testing kits and display signs informing the public that they are available.

Fox5 San Diego/KUSI

Sherri Papini, who faked being kidnapped, still owes $300,000 and prosecutors aim to collect

Sherri Papini, the woman who fabricated her own elaborate kidnapping and went to prison for mail fraud and lying to federal agents, still owes more than $300,000 in restitution, federal officials say. Papini, 41, was ordered to pay $309,902 in restitution when she was sentenced to federal prison in September 2022, nearly six years after she staged her own kidnapping and kicked off a frantic search that made national headlines.

Los Angeles Times

Crime

LA County Sheriff's Department's organized retail theft crime task force conducts major fencing bust

Fox News embedded with the LA County Sheriff Department's Organized Retail Theft Crime Task Force during a major fencing bust in what appeared to be a shopping center in a crime-ridden area near downtown Los Angeles. The location was actually a hidden storefront for a retail crime ring. Dozens of LA County Sheriff's deputies swarmed the area, detaining several people including a man they believe was helping run the operation.

Fox News

LAPD statistics show increase in violent crimes and robberies compared to last year

Violent crime in Los Angeles is up 2.9% compared to March 2023, and robberies have increased by 9.5%, law enforcement officials said Tuesday. During Tuesday's Board of Police Commissioners meeting, Interim Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi reported an uptick in violent crimes, with 73 homicides so far this year compared to 57 at this point in 2023, an increase of 28.1%.

City News Service

Convictions/Pleas/Sentences

Three Los Angeles County men sentenced to federal prison for laundering gift cards purchased by victims of telephone scams

An El Monte man and two Chinese nationals living elsewhere in Los Angeles County were sentenced today to terms in federal prison for laundering gift cards purchased by telephone-scam fraud victims at Target stores across the United States. Blade Bai, 35, of El Monte; Bowen Hu, 28, of Hacienda Heights; and Tairan Shi, 29, of Diamond Bar; were sentenced to terms of 15 years, 10 years, and eight years in federal prison, respectively.

U.S. Attorney's Office Press Release

Psychiatrist in California taken for more than $1M by crook

A 62-year-old money manager was sentenced to nearly 8 years in state prison for stealing more than $1 million from a practicing psychiatrist in Thousand Oaks, authorities announced late last week. Prosecutors with the Ventura County District Attorney's Office say that David Howard Syner, a resident of Whittier, gained access to the victim's financial accounts after an agreement to manage the doctor's business affairs.

KTLA

Ex-LA Deputy Mayor Ray Chan guilty of corruption in case linked to José Huizar

Former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan was found guilty on Wednesday, March 27 of federal racketeering conspiracy and bribery charges for his role in a scheme run by convicted ex-City Councilmember José Huizar to monetize the real estate approval process at City Hall. The guilty verdicts on all counts came a little over an hour after the federal criminal jury in downtown Los Angeles began deliberations for the day.

City News Service

Articles of Interest

California State Bar admits they committed 'serious failures' with Tom Girardi's alleged crimes: Details

Tom Girardi's legal woes continue to make headlines. The California State Bar emphasized the severity of the former attorney's alleged crimes while acknowledging the mistakes made by not disbarring him sooner after he allegedly embezzled millions of dollars from clients over multiple decades.

US Weekly

EU probes Google, Apple, Meta for breaches of new online market rules

European Union regulators on Monday launched probes into whether Apple, Google and Meta are violating the bloc's tough new rules to combat the anticompetitive practices of Big Tech. The European Commission said it opened investigations into Alphabet, Google's parent company, as well as Apple and Meta to determine whether they are complying with the Digital Markets Act, which went into force earlier this month.

Courthouse News Service

The LAPD trains foreign police. Does that enable human rights violations?

On graduation day at the LAPD's academy last summer, they marched with the other recruits, lined up for inspection, and even walked onstage to pose for pictures with then-Chief Michel Moore, like the rest of the class. And yet, something was off. Their look, for starters. While all of the other rookie officers were bare-faced, the five men sported neatly trimmed beards. Their shoes were brown leather, not black.

Los Angeles Times

Hunter Biden asks judge to throw out tax-evasion charges

Hunter Biden wants a federal judge to dismiss the tax-evasion charges brought against him in late 2023, arguing Wednesday in Los Angeles that the charges brought by U.S. Special Counsel David Weiss were politically motivated. President Joe Biden's son wasn't present at the three-hour hearing where his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, argued for eight separate motions to dismiss the tax charges either wholly or in part because, among other reasons, they were by driven the president's political rivals and barred by a diversion agreement between Biden and the Justice Department last year.

Courthouse News Service

Disney inks settlement with Florida oversight board, spelling end to feud over 'Don't Say Gay' law

The Walt Disney Company and an oversight board appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis agreed to settle competing lawsuits on Wednesday, potentially ending a two-year-long feud between state officials and the entertainment giant that began with the state's passage of the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law. In a closed-door session, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District unanimously voted to accept the settlement, which dismisses two lawsuits disputing a series of development agreements passed by the previous, Disney-backed board.

Courthouse News Service

Corrections

Justice Department seeks court order to stop California Department of Corrections from requiring correctional officers to violate religious beliefs

The Justice Department today challenged the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) on its denial of religious accommodations for correctional officers of various faiths, including Sikhs and Muslims, who wear facial hair as an expression of their faith.

Office of Public Affairs Press Release

Pensions

Goldman sees pension funds offloading $32B of stock soon

With stocks set to cap another strong quarter, pension funds are likely to sell an estimated $32 billion in equities to rebalance their positions, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. That would be the biggest adjustment since June 2023 and rank in the 89th percentile among estimates over the past three years, wrote analysts at Goldman's FICC & equities team in a note dated Tuesday.

Bloomberg

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