LOS ANGELES — A judge declined Thursday to grant former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan’s request to declare a mistrial in his public corruption case without more information about the illness that caused the defendant’s lead attorney to be hospitalized and the trial recessed.
U.S. District Judge John Walter told Chan’s legal team to file medical information under seal and return to court Wednesday to discuss the matter further, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Proceedings in the case were placed on hold in the second week of the trial, which began Feb. 21.
A defense motion filed this week stated that Chan’s counsel, Harland Braun, “is now physically unable to participate in the defense for at least several months.”
Braun had been representing Chan for about four years and is the only attorney capable of leading the defense, the filing said.
On March 2, Braun returned to his office after the day’s proceedings where his adult son, Adam, with whom he shares an office suite, found the attorney gravely ill, according to the motion.
Emergency services were called, and Braun was taken by ambulance to the nearby UCLA Medical Center where he was admitted for treatment. Soon after, judge and prosecutors were informed of Braun’s unexpected illness, and a three-week trial recess was granted.
During the interim, Braun underwent emergency surgery and was hospitalized for 10 days, the motion said.
According to recent updates from Braun’s medical team, the defense lawyer will be unable to further participate in the Chan case, that he faces an “indeterminate but significant” period of further medical treatments and convalescence, and that his eventual return to the practice of law — albeit in a gradual, or perhaps, even limited capacity — will be at least three months down the line, if not longer, the filing says.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said prosecutors would respond in writing in a court filing.
Chan is…
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