DEADLOCKED JURY LEADS TO DISMISSAL OF CASE AGAINST DEPUTY WHO REPORTEDLY LIED ABOUT ARREST
On Wednesday, LA Superior Court Judge C.H. Rehm dismissed a criminal case against Gregory Rodriguez, an LA County Sheriff’s deputy accused of perjury and of filing a false police report justifying the arrest of Christopher Gray by claiming that the man attempted to free people who were in police custody. Following a week-long trial that ended in a deadlocked jury (eight of twelve jurors voted not guilty), prosecutors from the LA County DA’s Justice System Integrity Division announced on Wednesday that they could not proceed and would drop the charges against Rodriguez.
The trial, which started July 29, included video evidence that prosecutors said proved Rodriguez lied about Gray’s actions leading up to the arrest. In the video, Gray appears to be calmly watching deputies make an arrest before Rodriguez confronted him and arrested him. (You can watch clips from the video footage target="_blank">here.) In target="_blank">an interview with NBC LA, Roger Clark, a police procedures consultant and former LASD lieutenant called the false reporting intentional, saying, “This should have been caught early, early on.”
Gray, who reportedly sustained a serious shoulder injury during the arrest and lost his job while he spent five days in jail on a felony charge, settled with the sheriff’s department for around $550,000. The LA County Board of Supervisors still has to approve the settlement amount.
If Rodriguez had been convicted, the (former) deputy would have faced up to four years and eight months behind bars.
CONSIDERING CALIFORNIA’S COMPETING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT BALLOT MEASURES
In November, California voters will decide between two competing ballot initiatives—one to abolish the death penalty in the state, and the other to speed up the appeals process for those sentenced to death.
The two measures have created considerable buzz. Critics of Proposition 66 argue that truncating the appeals process could lead to the execution of innocent people.
In an op-ed for the San Diego Union Tribune, co-founder of the California Innocence Project, Justin Brooks, tells the cautionary story of Bill Richards, a former death row inmate who was exonerated after 23 years. The decades it took to prove that Richards did not kill his wife and to free him from death row is not unusual, either. Seven of the last ten death row exonerations nationwide occurred after inmates had been on death row for more than 25 years. And more than 150 people have been declared innocent after a death sentence in the United States. Here’s a clip:
The jury in the third and final trial relied on highly questionable evidence: a thread allegedly found under the victim’s fingernail that matched Bill’s shirt; unscientific blood splatter evidence; and testimony by an expert that an alleged bite mark on Pamela’s body matched Bill.
After years of litigation, the California Innocence Project was finally able to get access to and testing of all of the crime scene evidence. Based on photos taken during the autopsy, there was substantial evidence that the blue fiber from Bill’s shirt was planted under Pamela’s fingernails. DNA testing of hair found under Pamela’s fingernails proved it did not match her nor Bill. Male DNA found on the murder weapon also did not match Bill. Finally, the actual prosecution expert who testified at trial that Bill’s teeth matched the bite mark recanted his trial testimony and admitted it was false.
After a lengthy habeas hearing, where all of this evidence was presented, a judge who was a former tough-on-crime prosecutor reversed Bill’s conviction. That was nine years ago. Shortly thereafter, the reversal was reversed with the California Supreme Court ruling that expert testimony cannot be deemed false, even when the expert himself admits it was false. Bill remained in prison for nine more years, battling cancer, while the California Innocence Project and others fought to change the law which finally resulted in Bill’s release this past June — after 23 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
The same opportunity to prove innocence in California may not be available to defendants sentenced to death in the future if Proposition 66 passes this November. Under Proposition 66, arbitrary timelines will be established and there may not be time within those timelines to prove innocence. The initiative would also require inexperienced attorneys to represent individuals facing the death penalty, even though ineffective assistance of counsel is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions.
Another example of alleged prosecutorial misconduct leading to questionable convictions is the scandal-plagued Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Read the latest in that saga: here.
Gary Tyler, a black man who was wrongfully convicted at 16 in 1974 of murdering a white high school cheerleader, supports Prop. 62—the bill to get rid of the death penalty. The Supreme Court overturned Tyler’s death sentence within two years, but Tyler spent more than four decades in prison with a life sentence before he was exonerated. Listen to Tyler speak out in support of Prop. 62 on Midday Edition.
For the most part, the death row reform bill has the support of law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and other justice system groups.
But some inmates used to death row after spending decades behind bars, are anxious about the potential of rejoining the general population of prisoners, the LA Times’ Paige St. John reports. Here’s a clip:
Perry’s worries include being moved from San Quentin, where he has struck up friendships with a college professor and a poet who visit and mentor him in theology and prose. How, he wonders, does that happen if you are a lifer locked away in the north woods at Crescent City’s Pelican Bay?
And he worries that men, “after being here chained up like monkeys and animals in a cage,” will have trouble adjusting to yards where violence is frequent.
“I’ll have to hurt someone,” was the immediate reaction of James Thompson, 64, grizzled and sitting in a tennis-court-size exercise yard. A guard stood overhead with a loaded rifle while a line of aging, heavily tattooed men in white boxer shorts paced in military precision.
On a new yard he will have to “re-establish” himself. After 20 years, Thompson is “comfortable” on East Block.
He is experienced in the differences between death row and ordinary prison. Before he robbed and killed a man in California, Thompson served a long stretch locked up in Texas, also for murder. What rubs him about California is the 20 years his appeal has been in limbo. He agrees with other condemned inmates who favor the ballot proposal to keep the death penalty but speed appeals.
“If you are going to execute me, execute me,” Thompson said. “But if you are going to let me go, let me go.”
Death row experts said states that have repealed the death penalty have successfully absorbed the condemned into their general populations, though in Connecticut, two killers had to be sent to Pennsylvania to ensure their safety.
BILL INTRODUCED IN HOUSE WOULD INCENTIVIZE THE HIRING OF FOSTER YOUTH
Under a new House bill employers would be eligible to receive annual tax credits for hiring current and former foster youth.
The Improved Employment Outcomes for Foster Youth Act, introduced Thursday, would grant federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit up to $2,400 per year for employers who hire people between the ages of 18 and 27 who were in foster care on their sixteenth birthday.
If an employer kept a hire from the time the employee was 18 through 26, a total of $21,600 in credits could be claimed.
The bipartisan-supported bill, which was introduced by five members of the House Ways and Means Committee, was inspired by a partnership in California between a non-profit, iFoster, and Raley’s, a grocery chain, which has grown to include a manufacturing company called Mondelez International and Starbucks.
The Chronicle of Social Change’s John Kelly has more on the bill. Here’s a clip:
“We pursued this path and the creation of this bill because when we talked to employers, they were not interested in the subsidized work internships or subsidized employment,” said Serita Cox, the co-founder and executive director of iFoster, who has helped develop the legislation. “Instead, they felt strongly about the tax credit offered to veterans.”
The iFoster program worked with transition-age, kinship and crossover youth ages 16 to 24 in a seven-step program that involves a screening and interview process. iFoster completes a pre-employment phase with a cohort of potential employees before they interview and start working at the company.
“The caliber of the youths and the success they’re having on the job has been tremendous,” said iFoster co-founder Reid Cox. “One of the key issues here is that none of this is trying to offset that these kids are bad employees. It’s just to level the playing field.”
Sean Hughes, a child welfare consultant who helped develop the legislation, said “at least” 100,000 youths and young adults who spent time in foster care would be WOTC eligible. The number might be far higher, based on federal foster care data from 2014.
There were 22,392 exited foster care due to “emancipation” in fiscal 2014, according to federal data. Assuming that is about average, approximately 201,000 workers would be eligible in any year.
1. Victim Gray nets approximately $300,000.00 after attorney fees.
2. Taxpayers lose $550,00.00.
3.Deputy Rodriquez benefits from 7500 deputies who pay for his legal bills through association dues.
4.The Sheriff’s Department looks bad for allowing Rodriguez to remain on the department.
5. The beat goes on.
Well, let’s look at who still has their jobs and retirements. Stonich, Waldie, Fender, Gooden etc etc. Rodriquez should not get his job back but when you look at exec crimes and the no or slight punishment given, Rodriquez can make a strong argument for his job? Ain’t that right Parra?
Question, who are you to convict Rodrigiez. Rodriguez did not do anything wrong. He was a pawn for LASD to show that change is being done. The judge is the only one to have enough sense to put a stop to the political prosecution of yet another deputy. The field sergeant failed to manage this incident although he is now a lieutenant (JU)
#: I’m one in the know!
Hey Question, unless you were there you’re not in the know. Maybe the suspect attempted the lynching prior to assisting units arriving on scene and the camera rolling. Maybe the deputy made a sound tactical decision to deal with the suspect once enough units were on scene.
I know Rodriguez and the circs of the case well.
Rodriguez is one hell of a Deputy Sheriff. The video depicted about 15min of a 30+ minute encounter and clearly didn’t show the totality of everything.
Gray is known to file frivolous lawsuits against ELA Deps and the dept.
Rodriguez was charged purely based in politics.
I don’t know Rodriguez nor do I know any facts about the case. I only know what I read here on WLA. In addition to that I have my own experiences with the department. That being said, it stands to reason it was politically motivated. I’m curious as to who the ELA Captain was at the time and who the ICIB Captain was? My guess is one or both made the call to push this to the DA’s office. Whoever the investigator was either didn’t present a fair and impartial case or they presented an incomplete case. Either way, the jury obviously saw through the nonsense and made the right decision. Hopefully the Sheriff has the stones to bring him back to work ASAP.
@#7 M.A.D. He’ll probably be fired for policy violation(s) or for embarrassing the Dept, even though he didn’t create the situation. I don’t think the Execs have enough sense to cut their losses.
The Sheriff is going to create a situation where Deps begin turning their backs to him. I don’t know of anyone looking to get away with malfeasance. But it’s apparent he’s sticking it to employees just to say he’s making changes.
Ironic that legal representation and prosecution along with collateral damage all have one thing in common. Its all selective. ICIB is known for its personal agenda to slay deputies.
If one considers the myriad cases involving LASD Deputies accused of wrongdoing, (perjurious statements & false police reports) that have occurred over the past 5 years, it is more than obvious that a systematic prosecution/persecution has been in place by Departmental “Brass” during that time. There are several reasons for this mal-intentioned, iniquitous, and nefarious activism by the “Brass” against Deputy personnel. Consider the following:
1. Keeping personnel “in line” by threat and intimidation, occasionally culminating in unwarranted “disciplinary action” and/or actual criminal prosecution.
2. Revenge for not “going along” with suggestions or directives by the “Brass”, especially when the directives requested of subordinate personnel are less than honorable, outside of departmental policy, or outright illegal.
3. Personal aggrandizement for the “Brass” (especially those high ranking narcissistic individuals who either aspire to higher office, and were promoted and/or elected on the promise of “cleaning house”. “Sometimes innocents fall and are sacrificed for the Greater Good.”
4. Retribution for not having complied with directives given by “upper management” to subordinate personnel (see #2), even if the retribution is administered against a family member of the Department, years after the original refusal to follow the illegal directive.
More to follow………
The Captain of ELa Station at the time was JW. Who was newly promoted by Sheriff Baca. The old Captain was promoted to Commander by Sheriff Baca. I believe the case probably would go to the division chief prior to giving it to ICIB. However, JW would have no problem sending it up, just don’t make me look bad. It’s my way or it’s wrong. Don’t make me look bad I need to promote again. You want to look for someone who falsified documents. Check all the OT slips at IDT when JW was the OPs Lt. He submitted his own OT slips and signed them. He also signed his brothers. Conflict? Taking OT from Deputies, what a scam.
It’s so ridiculous that LA County and probably other counties and city governments have become the new “low hanging” fruit for scumbags and lawyers to enrich themselves off of. A lawsuit here for some frivolous incident and a city government with lawyers to weak to fight, and voila…a compromise settlement at the expense of the hardworking honest TAXPAYERS. I think folks miss the point that these costs are passed down to someone. Just the same as stores pass down the costs of stock “shrinkage” and credit cards companies recoup their losses for unauthorized transactions. We have empowered a system for folks who have figured out a new way (with the assistance of the media, cameras, activists, etc.) for those whose only goal in life is to game the system. I do stand at attention (unlike some in the recent headlines) and propose a toast to our country and all the principals, ideals and morals it used to stand for.
@”In the know,” I wonder where ALADS is through all of this, after all the current President has been a Director for 10 or more years. If I remember correctly, some people complained about Macias saying he had been on the board for a long time, but never fixed anything, so they got rid of him. Looks like it’s time to clean house, again.
everything started from a lawsuit gray filed with the county after the arrest. During discovery the video came to light. From what I hear the video went from civil lit directly to ICIB, bypassing JW.
JW was just told to relieve Rodriguez.
It should be noted JW was the best Capt. ELA has had in the past 10yrs. We’ll see how our current capt. works out.
If this Deputy has any common sense he will seek legal counsel outside of Green and Shinee. The department wins almost 90% of its discharge cases at Civil Service for a reason.
Dept wins 90% of Civil Service? Are you sure about that? I do agree with you as far as getting rid of Green & Shinee. They are the bottom of the barrell law firm with sub par attorneys. This is exactly why more and more deputies are obtaining their own private attorneys. Dick Shinee has sold us all down the river and the current president, vice president and treasurer of ALADS are his puppets. These tools have systematically denied every deputy that has come to them for assistance with legal fees outside of Dick’s firm. If one didn’t know, you’d think there’s something in it for them. ALADS needs to clean house and restructure within. Get rid of Shinee, hire a PR manager and get an executive director that knows what the hell is going on. This organization is a mess and has been a mess for decades. It’s a damn shame when nearly half of the member dues goes to Dick and deputies get nothing in return. I don’t like ranting, but I’m tired of hearing from deputies how ALADS keeps shutting them down everytime the ask for assistance. And it’s ALWAYS the president, vice president the treasurer and the custody bonus lifer the for elected just to go along with them. Time for a complete changeover this November’s election. Hopefully Blagg and Sass will do right by us all!
@Reality
The stats are on the civil service commission’s website. They post their annual reports with 2014 being the latest. They post 3 categories.
-Dept. Sustained
-Dept. Sustained in Part
-Dept. Not Sustained
All the annual reports have one thing in common. Deputies lose more than they win. And when i say this, im not talking about a small discrepancy in the win to loss ratio. Im talking about the department crushing ALADS in these hearings. Go visit the website and see for yourself. in 2012 the Department had a 91% success rate in the termination of 20 department members with only 2 people (9%) getting “Dept. Sustained in Part”.
90022, it should be noted JW was a sick joke of a captain, a fraud as a lieutenant, and couldn’t get out of patrol fast enough as a sergeant. Tanaka gave him special “time” to study on duty, and made sure he had all the answers. If you think he was the best thing ELA has seen in ten years, they must have fallen on real hard times. The new guy has followed the same career path, let’s see how that turns out…
@LATBG, I stand by my comment. Times have gotten bad.
@heed this warning, I don’t know… I know more guys personally who’ve gotten their jobs back than that number. I’d like to think that civil service has been reinstating deputies back at a much higher rate than that. Thus causing this Sheriff to go public and complain about them. In the end of Baca era, I know they were stacking the deck and head hunting, but in those days, when you were ROD, it was for a lot more aggregious cases instead of the nonsense they fire people for these days. Back then, when someone was ROD, you knew they were already criminals, or something much more serious. Nowadays, if they THINK, you did something, they fire you. Also, Green and Shinee make more money when deps are fired and will never fight for you prior to that. They, on many occasions have told guts, “they’re going to fire you, but we’ll get your job back”. Complete corruption from within and this current board at alads has just keeps filling Dick Shinee’s pockets. It’s appalling how they do deputies these days. This is why many are getting their own private attorneys and paying out of pocket because the current majority on the board, pres, vice president and treasurer are all in bed with Dick. This organization is a cash cow for dick and he had exploited it for his own benefit. It’s a 4 million a year gig for him.. Of course he will. It’s real sad.
@21) Every word truly spoken.
That ain’t no lie LATBG. As a sgt. JW wasn’t at Temple long enough to put his study materials (aka the answer keys to memorize) in his locker before he was reassigned to the infamous Personnel Basement study group. Then evenings and weekends waiting tables at the D & M Campbell’s Soup Kitchen House.
That’s a lot of hard sacrificing work.