LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Former City Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, convicted of federal bribery and conspiracy charges, is expected to ask a judge Monday to vacate his guilty verdicts and grant his acquittal due to what he alleges were procedural errors and other issues during his trial.
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.
Prosecutors responded to Ridley-Thomas' arguments for acquittal and a new trial in a 200-page filing that includes a detailed timeline of events surrounding what the U.S. Attorney's Office calls a quid pro quo arrangement between the politician and a former head of the USC School of Social Work who pleaded guilty to bribery.
U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer is scheduled to hear arguments from both sides at Monday's hearing.
"The government did not present at trial overwhelming evidence of Dr. Ridley-Thomas' guilt," defense attorneys wrote in their motion for a new trial, which was filed 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."
Prosecutors strongly deny that Adkins lied on the stand.
Ridley-Thomas was accused of steering county contracts toward the USC social work school in exchange for contributions to a community-focused non- profit organization run by his son, Sebastian, a former state Assemblyman. Ridley-Thomas is appealing the conviction.
A juror who spoke after the verdicts were announced said the panel found "dishonesty" in Ridley-Thomas' actions involving the $100,000 transfer of funds that traveled from his campaign fund to USC, then to the United Ways of California, and finally to Sebastian's organization.
But defense attorneys argued that there was no bribery. The money was channeled from the father to his son's organization in such a way to avoid the appearance of "nepotism," Ridley-Thomas' attorneys argued, and there was no benefit to the USC dean as a result.
"Notably, the government presented no county testimony concerning Dr. Ridley-Thomas' support for and actions with respect to the county agenda items at issue," defense attorneys wrote.
Jurors, who reached their verdicts on their fifth day of deliberations in Los Angeles federal court, acquitted the Southland political giant of a dozen fraud counts.
Ridley-Thomas, of South Los Angeles, vehemently denied any wrongdoing. He did not testify in his own defense, but his attorneys argued throughout the trial that nothing he did amounted to a crime.
Federal prosecutors based their case on a long string of emails and letters to bolster fraud allegations. However, defense attorney Daralyn Durie countered that nothing Ridley-Thomas did was illegal, and a series of defense witnesses testified that the "paper trail" was not what it seemed.
The ex-dean of the USC School of Social Work, Marilyn Flynn, 84, of Los Feliz, pleaded guilty in September to one count of bribery and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 24.
Ridley-Thomas served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1991-2002, then served in the state Assembly and state Senate before he was elected to the powerful county Board of Supervisors in 2008, serving until 2020, when he returned to the City Council.
He was suspended from the City Council following the October 2021 federal indictment that also named Flynn as co-defendant. After the guilty verdicts, Heather Hutt was appointed as the new councilwoman from District 10.
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