By FRED SHUSTER | City News Service
Former Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was convicted of federal bribery and conspiracy charges, is asking the judge overseeing his case to vacate his guilty verdicts and grant a new trial due to procedural error and other issues, according to court papers obtained on Tuesday, May 3.
Ridley-Thomas’ attorneys say that during the March trial there were multiple instances of prosecutorial misconduct, a lack of proper jury instructions and misstatements of the law that ultimately deprived the longtime Los Angeles politician of his right to a fair trial.
The 68-year-old Ridley-Thomas is facing the prospect of years in prison after being convicted March 30 on single counts of conspiracy, bribery, honest services mail fraud and four counts of honest services wire fraud, stemming from his time serving on the county Board of Supervisors. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 21 in downtown Los Angeles.
“The government did not present at trial overwhelming evidence of Dr. Ridley-Thomas’ guilt,” defense attorneys wrote in a motion for a new trial, which was filed Monday along with a motion for a judgment of acquittal. “And, with respect to key elements of each of the crimes charged … the government presented no evidence at all.”
The defense points in particular to the testimony of FBI Special Agent Brian Adkins, the government’s chief case investigator, who spent three days on the stand touching on nearly every factual issue presented.
“Agent Adkins’ testimony was tainted by improper questioning and the government’s refusal to correct his false statements under oath,” defense attorneys allege. “During trial, Agent Adkins made at least three false statements during his testimony. One false statement concerned his statement that he had reviewed all 400,000 documents produced in the case.”
On cross-examination, however, Adkins admitted that he or another agent would have reviewed the documents…
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