Of their closing phrases to jurors who will determine the destiny of suspended Los Angeles Metropolis Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, federal prosecutors and the lawmaker’s protection lawyer detailed sharply conflicting portraits of the person and the case towards him.
To Assistant U.S. Atty. Lindsey Greer Dotson, Ridley-Thomas was a profession politician who savvily conspired with a USC dean to acquire a slew of advantages for his troubled son in change for assist with coveted Los Angeles County enterprise. There was no specific settlement between Ridley-Thomas and the USC dean, Marilyn Flynn, in response to the prosecutor, however “winks and nods.”
“He leveraged his energy to extract privileges for his son,” Dotson mentioned. “Public officers don’t get to monetize their public service. As a politician, you’re employed for us, you’re employed for the taxpayer.”
To guide protection lawyer Daralyn Durie, nevertheless, the fees towards her consumer had been the fruit of a sloppy investigation, one which noticed crimes the place none existed and one which jumped to conclusions earlier than turning over each stone.
“Every little thing that occurred at USC was authorized,” Durie advised jurors.
She famous that the L.A. County votes at situation within the case had been long-running tasks that Ridley-Thomas publicly backed and assigned a number of staffers to work on. The tasks — for a probation coaching program, a reentry facility and a distant psychological well being clinic — had been central parts of his coverage agenda.
“No one would suppose he wanted to be bribed to do it,” Durie mentioned.
The 19 counts towards Ridley-Thomas embody conspiracy, bribery, and trustworthy companies mail and wire fraud. If convicted, the 68-year-old might spend a long time in jail. Jurors received’t start deliberations till Friday after the federal government completes its closing arguments.
The allegations of the federal government heart on a interval from 2017 to 2018 when Ridley-Thomas allegedly conspired with Flynn, then the dean of USC’s social work program, to acquire advantages for his son — a scholarship, admission to graduate faculty, a professor’s job and a donation to a nonprofit.
On the time, this system was struggling financially, and Ridley-Thomas’ son, Sebastian, was a state Meeting member going through a still-confidential sexual harassment investigation.
“The defendant was in a singular place: He might come to each their rescue on the similar time,” Dotson advised jurors.
Dotson directed jurors to a winter 2018 e mail during which Flynn despatched “a particularly vital request for a contract modification.” Ridley-Thomas replied, “Your want is my command,” and blind-copied his son.
Subsequent, the e-mail was forwarded to Ridley-Thomas’ workers. “He’s advising his workers to do sure issues,” Dotson advised jurors. “That’s an official act.”
Among the many advantages Ridley-Thomas acquired: routing $100,000 from his marketing campaign account via USC to a nonprofit run by his son.
Dotson mentioned that it might be straightforward to donate cash on to his son’s nonprofit, however that Ridley-Thomas needed to cover his tracks.
“He’s received to funnel the cash and clear his connection,” Dotson mentioned, reminding jurors that an earlier donation from Ridley-Thomas to his son’s nonprofit was rejected after a dad or mum nonprofit objected to the nepotistic optics. Dotson invoked a geographic analogy: “If I’m going to drive from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica, I’m not going to drive via Bakersfield.”
After the cash arrived, Ridley-Thomas messaged his son, “My piece is finished,” with a fist bump emoji.
A linchpin of the federal government’s case is now-L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ full tuition scholarship and Flynn’s feedback on it. In a 2017 e mail, Flynn had described her plan to supply Sebastian Ridley-Thomas a scholarship and mentioned she did “the identical for Karen Bass — full scholarship for our funds.”
“It’s not rocket science what Marilyn Flynn is on the lookout for right here,” Dotson mentioned, laying out a easy plan to curry favor with public officers for presidency contracts.
However Durie highlighted that then-U.S. Rep. Bass was by no means charged over the e-mail. If Bass was not a legal, the identical ought to maintain true for her consumer. If the e-mail was true, it means “Karen Bass, the present mayor of Los Angeles, could be a legal.”
Durie additionally pointed to the “for our funds” as a typo — that Flynn meant “from” our funds. One slide proven in courtroom compiled all of Flynn’s typos in emails that jurors noticed — misspelled phrases, unexpectedly written messages.
“Dean Flynn was like 80 years previous, which is tremendous spectacular,” Durie mentioned. “However her typing expertise, very similar to her monetary administration expertise, weren’t her sturdy level.”
An extended-running effort of the protection has been to chip away on the prosecution’s case by laying into the credibility of the lead investigator, FBI Particular Agent Brian Adkins. All through the trial, a number of witnesses who labored at L.A. County testified that they weren’t questioned by the FBI, and Durie received Adkins to acknowledge that emails at L.A. County weren’t subpoenaed throughout the investigation.
“It is a legal case. If you’ll convey costs, you higher ensure that you might be proper — and also you higher do your homework,” Durie mentioned.
The protection lawyer identified shifts in Adkins’ testimony: that he initially mentioned he reviewed greater than 400,000 paperwork within the case, then mentioned both he or different brokers reviewed them. Durie reminded jurors of an episode throughout Adkins’ testimony when she cross-examined him, and the lawyer appeared to establish an error in his timeline over whether or not Sebastian Ridley-Thomas was interviewed within the sexual harassment investigation.
“This complete case is about timing,” Durie mentioned, including, “That makes it actually vital to not get it combined up.”
Durie pointed to different lapses: Investigators appeared incurious about how the county authorities labored and even misstated the character of the objects that make up the “quo” within the quid professional quo — two of the three objects had been “research” during which additional analysis could be achieved for supervisors, not contracts per se.
“Who did the federal government current to you as witnesses? By and huge, they introduced you folks from USC,” Durie advised jurors.
A centerpiece of the federal government’s case is a summer season 2017 assembly with Ridley-Thomas, which Flynn later memorialized in a letter. The letter was hand-delivered to Ridley-Thomas’ workplace, and it outlined Flynn’s requests of the politician relating to county enterprise.
Dotson mentioned the letter was proof constructive of Flynn and Ridley-Thomas mixing Sebastian’s extraordinary advantages at USC with county enterprise.
Durie solid doubt on the letter: “Somebody discovered that letter, noticed that it had been hand-delivered, and thought, ‘Aha!’”
As an alternative, Durie mentioned, the multi-page letter was hand-delivered due to significantly delicate content material: a demographic breakdown of the members of a analysis initiative on homelessness. The letter famous harshly that the committee was largely white and had no members with “lived expertise,” which jeopardized the legitimacy of the analysis.
Prosecutors located the sexual harassment allegations towards Sebastian Ridley-Thomas — and the necessity to preserve the brewing scandal quiet — as a driving power within the conspiracy. However Durie, in a voice that was noticeably calmer and slower than her argument, puzzled aloud if jurors had mates or relations who’ve been accused of misconduct.
“Mark Ridley-Thomas is on trial,” Durie mentioned. “He’s actually not on trial for something his son did.”
In her closing strains to the jury, Durie issued a plea.
“I ask you to return this man to his work, to his dwelling, to his neighborhood and, on each cost, render a verdict of not responsible.”
