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Alex Sanchez Granted Bail – UPDATED

Alex-bail

Around 11:30, at the end of the closed hearing that began at 10 a.m.
Alex Sanchez attorney Kerry Bensinger came out of the federal courtroom to talk to Sanchez family and a very, very small handful of supporters, whom he drew into a side room and broke the news. U.S. District Judge Manuel Real had granted Alex Sanchez bail.

One thing that can be said for the staggeringly quirky Real, he continues to surprise. This time the surprise was a good one for Sanchez and family.

The bail amount is set at $2 million. It is to be divided into $1 million in properties, $1 million in surities.

Since Sanchez supporters and family have already gathered $1.4 million in property, and $1 million in surities, “it’s only a matter of the paperwork,” said Monica Novoa, a Homies Unidos board member who is very close to the family and thus was in the room.

Understandably, there will be stringent restrictions, which have been agreed upon but not been spelled out publicly. (There will, for instance, be no contact allowed with active gang members.)

“But any of it’s fine,” said Novoa. “We really feel that this is the beginning of a fair trial for Alex. He’ll be able to see his family, sleep in his own bed, meet with his attorney, and work for his own defense. That’s all we ever asked for.”

As to who was inside the closed hearing, there were assuredly LAPD officers. And there was supposed to be someone from inside City Hall or failing that, someone who works closely with City Hall and who knows the LA gang world and the gang intervention world. (Connie Rice, for example, would be on the latter list.)

I have heard floating rumors that the City Hall someone inside the closed courtroom may possibly have been City Council Member Tony Cardenas.

If true, this makes a great deal of sense. The mayor’s gang czar, Guillermo Cespedes, could have concievably been called in but he’d have had little or nothing concrete to add to the conversation in the way of personal knowledge, as he didn’t take over his post until September (Sanchez was arrested last June) and prior to the gang czar gig, he was running Summer Night Lights thus would have had no reason to deeply interact with Sanchez and the area of town in which the government alleges Sanchez was operating.

There is former gang czar, Jeff Carr, the mayor’s chief of staff. But Carr, while he’d worked with Sanchez and would be deemed knowledgeable, would have been unwise to come down on one side or the other of this very controversy-fraught case because, either way he leaned he would risk alienating a group that is important to the mayor. In short, his appearance, no matter how super secret, would have been a no-win for Carr or his boss Antonio.

Cardenas, however, is arguably the most knowledgeable of the three. He has a long-term professional relationship with Sanchez and other gang interventionists and gang recovery agencies—and with the police— due to his multi-year chairmanship of the Council’s Ad-hoc Committee on Gang Violence and Youth Development. Thus, with the right phone calls, he was in a position to gather some genuine intel from both sides of the argument, plus he likely has a gut take on the case of his own.

Although I have criticized Cardenas plenty of times over the years, I have also known him to, at times, show an unusual amount of moral courage when the cameras were turned off and there was nothing to gain, especially for a politician.

So, while I don’t know if the mystery City Hall person was Tony Cardenas, he would be my pick as the one whom Judge Real would have been wise to call. Had he been called in, I would like to think he would have told what he believed to be the real truth—whatever that real truth might be.

More as I have it.


UPDATE: Both Tom Hayden at the Nation and Tom Diaz at Fairly Civil report that, according paperwork filed in the federal district court, the prosecutor’s witness list has been made public.

Diaz notes that the three expert witnesses made available by the prosecution were:

1. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Robert W. Clark, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office.

2. LAPD Capt. Justin Eisenberg, Commanding Officer of the Gangs and Narcotics Division.

3. Former federal prosecutor Bruce K. Riordan, now Director of Anti-Gang Operations for the L.A. City Attorney’s Office. Riordan is also Chief of the Gang Division and Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division.

I know little about the first two, but Bruce Riordan in particular was a smart choice. He has a broad base of experience and he is very much a straight shooter. What his opinion would have been on the issues surrounding Sanchez and his bail is unknown.

The identity of the witness or witnesses called by Sanchez’s attorneys remains sealed.


14 Comments

  • Celeste I know you have been close to this case and support Alex. Having said that I’m hearing if true that Cardenas spoke on his behalf as a council member isn’t this a conflict of interest? Is this going to set a precedent for other gang member who are arrested for a council member to go speak on their behalf. Also, what type of message is this sending law enforcement when a politican gets involved personally in a case? I’m confused and see somewhat questionable motives. Will you please confirm that it was indeed Cardenas for us?

  • Tony Cardenas was in the Council Chambers continuously this morning, participating on the Medical Marijuana Ordinance debate, so it cannot have been him. Whoever the mystery City Hall White Knight is remains a mystery…

  • According to http://tomdiaz.wordpress.com/

    The mystery city person was “Former federal prosecutor Bruce K. Riordan, now Director of Anti-Gang Operations for the L.A. City Attorney’s Office. Riordan is also Chief of the Gang Division and Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division.”

  • Celine, Bruce Riordan was on the prosecution’s list. There is still one more witness whose name is under seal.

    Janet, As for a conflict of interest for whomever the mystery witness turns out to be, these people weren’t advocates for one side or the other, although both the prosecution and the defense provided names of possible witnesses for the judge to question. They were invited because the judge wished it.

  • QUESTION: Well, I suppose now that Alex has been granted bail you think judge Real is a good judge.”

    SHORT ANSWER: No.

    Woody, Good point. In fact, I think that’s likely WHY Judge Real granted Sanchez bail: because he feared for the fate of WitnessLA.

    PS: If the LA Times covered the issue, maybe even a little, then perhaps I could dial it back (she says grumpily).

  • # Janet Says:
    January 13th, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    what type of message is this sending law enforcement when a politican gets involved personally in a case?

    ………………

    Perhaps a message that they don’t run the city, and the people do? It’s just the message they need.

  • Emails this morning being sent saying it was Tony Cardenas. If he didn’t do anything wrong and the prosecution list was out why is Cardenas trying to hide he gave testimony in this case? Why wouldn’t the LA Times or even the Daily News cover this story? This is a guy who ran a gang prevention agency, the city gives them $3.5 million and the LA Times has recently done stories on gang interventionist so why no coverage?

  • Interestingly Janet, now all of the files are sealed. I think it was purely accidental that the gov’t’s witness list was open yesterday. Today it’s sealed. (I’ll post on that later. I mean really. It’s about 20 hours too late.)

    Whoever testified, evidently the judge has ordered it all sealed. The whole thing is highly unusual.

    As to why the LA Times or the Daily News is not doing any coverage—you got me. I just had that very conversation today with a NYT reporter who asked me the same question.

    It seems to me that whatever one thinks about Alex Sanchez guilt or innocence, this is a fairly interesting story.

  • If the mystery witness is Tony Cardenas don’t the citizens oy Los Angeles have a right to know what a elected official is doing on City time. This wasn’t some national security hearing. He is accountable to his constituents that he represents. Needless to say this wreaks of politics and preferential treatment. What a rare instance that we have a Politician avoiding the media and camera spotlight.

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