A disgraced former Los Angeles City Councilman who was convicted on bribery and fraud charges is seeking a new trial after he alleged this week that prosecutorial misconduct and misleading testimony by a senior FBI agent denied him due process.
Mark Ridley-Thomas’s attorneys said in court papers that there were multiple instances of misconduct, a lack of proper jury instructions, and misstatements made during his high-profile trial and argued that his case deserved a second look.
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The 68-year-old longtime Los Angeles politician is facing decades in prison after being found guilty in March on federal corruption charges stemming from his time as a prominent member of L.A. County’s powerful Board of Supervisors and involved his support of a contract with the University of Southern California’s School of Social Work for TeleHealth.
Ridley-Thomas was accused of securing special benefits for his son from USC while voting in support of a contract sought by a university that has been at the center of several investigations involving improper conduct in recent years.
Marilyn Louise Flynn, a former tenured professor, and dean of USC’s School of Social Work, provided the Thomas’s with graduate school admission to pursue a dual master’s degree, a full-tuition scholarship, a paid professorship, and a way to funnel $100,000 of his campaign funds through the university to a non-profit to be run by the son called Policy, Research & Practice Initiative, according to prosecutors.
In exchange, Ridley-Thomas backed lucrative contracts involving the Social Work School, including one to provide services to the Department of Children and Family Services and another with the Department of Mental Health that could have brought in millions of dollars in new revenue to the school, prosecutors said.
They added that by funneling the $100,000 payment through USC, both Ridley-Thomas and Flynn tried to disguise the source of the money and make it seem like the university was backing Ridley-Thomas’s son’s new nonprofit organization.
Jurors spent five days deliberating Ridley-Thomas’s fate before finding him guilty of seven of 19 counts, including conspiracy, bribery, honest services mail fraud, and four counts of honest services wire fraud.
The verdict marked a spectacular fall from grace for a man who had been a staunch supporter of racial justice and civil rights. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 21.
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In the first of two filings this week, Ridley-Thomas’s lawyers claimed that FBI Special Agent Brian Adkins lied about the School of Social Work for TeleHealth contract on the stand and said his statements likely tainted the jury’s decision. The second filing sought an outright acquittal, claiming that prosecutors failed to provide evidence for each element of the crimes on which the former elected official was convicted.
The U.S. attorney’s office has until May 22 to reply. A hearing is scheduled for June 26.
