The legal team of disgraced Los Angeles County politician Mark Ridley-Thomas presented their arguments Thursday to overturn his conviction before a federal appeals panel.
In his plea for a reversal of the March 2023 pronunciationattorney Alyssa Bell claimed there was no evidence of a “quid pro quo” arrangement between Ridley-Thomas and former USC dean Marilyn Flynn which formed the basis for his conviction for fraud and bribery.
“As a matter of law, so-called sentencing cannot serve as a basis for the Ridley-Thomas convictions,” Bell told the three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena. did not personally enrich Ridley-Thomas, and personal enrichment is the hallmark of traditional bribery. Instead, Flynn assisted Ridley-Thomas with his donation, which fully complied with state campaign finance laws and disclosure requirements.”
The charges stemmed from what prosecutors called a “quid pro quo” arrangement between Ridley-Thomas and a former head of the USC School of Social Work, accusing the politician of steering county contracts to the school in exchange for benefits for Ridley-Thomas’ son. , former councilor Sebastian Ridley-Thomas.
Prosecutors alleged that the longtime local politician, while serving as a county supervisor, “reached out” and accepted benefits from USC in favor of his son Sebastian. Federal prosecutors based their case on a lengthy series of emails and letters to substantiate allegations that Ridley-Thomas and Flynn had a quid pro quo arrangement in 2017 and 2018, in which the then-dean arranged for Sebastian’s admission to USC, a full-tuition scholarship and a paid professorship in exchange for his father’s support for provincial proposals that would ostensibly fix the school’s dire financial picture and save Flynn’s job.
In their appeal brief, Ridley’s lawyers say:Thomas also argued that the process of selecting jurors for the trial was flawed because government lawyers allegedly acted in a discriminatory manner by using two peremptory strikes to eliminate all black women from the jury.
The defense also maintained that there was no evidence that Ridley…Thomas while serving on the Board of Supervisors, he performed “an official act” in favor of an extension of a telehealth contract with the provincial Department of Mental Health.
In her counterargument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Greer Dotson said the $100,000 payment is itself the “thing of value” at the heart of the bribery conviction.
“The fact is that a payment was made, and a payment is something of value,” she said, adding that Flynn’s help was essential to “issue that check” to PRPI.
A jury convicted the former county supervisor on single counts of bribery and conspiracy, along with one count of honest services mail fraud and four counts of wire fraud. Jurors, who reached their verdict on their fifth day of deliberation, acquitted Ridley-Thomas of twelve other counts of fraud.
In her counterargument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Greer Dotson said the $100,000 payment is itself the “thing of value” at the heart of the bribery conviction.
“The fact is that a payment was made, and a payment is something of value,” she said, adding that Flynn’s help was essential to “issue that check” to PRPI.
United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer sentenced Ridley Thomas to three years and six months in prison and sentenced him to a $30,000 fine.
Ridley-Thomas is a major figure in local politics. He served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1991 to 2002 and then in the state Assembly and Senate before being elected to the powerful county Board of Supervisors in 2008, where he served until 2020. , when he returned to the city council.
KCAL News Staff
