Disgraced Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas heads to federal appellate court
Disgraced Los Angeles County politician Mark Ridley-Thomas' legal team presented their argument to overturn his conviction to a federal appellate panel on Thursday.
In arguing for a reversal of the March 2023 ruling, appellate attorney Alyssa Bell asserted there was no evidence of a "quid pro quo" arrangement between Ridley-Thomas and former USC dean Marilyn Flynn which formed the basis of his conviction for fraud and bribery.
"As a matter of law, the so-called funneling cannot serve as a predicate for any of Ridley-Thomas' convictions,'' Bell stated before the three-judge panel at the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena. "Flynn's assistance did not personally enrich Ridley-Thomas, and personal enrichment is the hallmark of traditional bribery. Rather, Flynn helped Ridley-Thomas to make his donation, which complied fully with state campaign finance laws and public 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, with the politician accused of steering county contracts toward the school in exchange for benefits provided to Ridley-Thomas' son, former Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas.
Prosecutors alleged that the longtime local politician, while serving as a county supervisor, "put his hand out" and accepted perks from USC to benefit his son, Sebastian. Federal prosecutors based their case on a long string of emails and letters to bolster allegations that Ridley-Thomas and Flynn, had a quid pro quo arrangement during 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 county proposals that would ostensibly shore up the school's shoddy financial picture and save Flynn's job.
In its appellate brief, lawyers for Ridley-Thomas also argued that the process of selecting jurors for the trial was flawed because government attorneys allegedly acted in a discriminatory manner by using two peremptory strikes to eliminate all Black women from the jury.
The defense also insisted there was no showing that Ridley-Thomas performed "an official act'' while on the Board of Supervisors in favor of an expansion of a Telehealth contract with the county Department of Mental Health.
In her opposing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Greer Dotson said the $100,000 payment itself is the ``thing of value'' at the heart of the bribery conviction.
"The fact is, there was a payment, and a payment is a thing of value,'' she said, adding that the assistance of Flynn was essential to "getting that check issued'' 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 honest services wire fraud. Jurors, who reached their verdict on their fifth day of deliberations, acquitted Ridley-Thomas of 12 other fraud counts.
In her opposing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Greer Dotson said the $100,000 payment itself is the ``thing of value'' at the heart of the bribery conviction.
"The fact is, there was a payment, and a payment is a thing of value,'' she said, adding that the assistance of Flynn was essential to "getting that check issued'' to PRPI.
United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer sentenced Ridley-Thomas to three years and six months in prison and ordered him to a $30,000 fine.
Ridley-Thomas is a giant figure in local politics, previously serving on the Los Angeles City Council from 1991-2002, then serving 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.