Former L.A. Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas Files a Notice of Appeal Challenging His Convictions

By Joe W. Bowers Jr. and Edward Henderson | California Black Media
Former L.A. Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas has filed a notice of appeal challenging his convictions for voting in support of county contracts that would favor USC while accepting benefits for his son from the university.

The notice sets the stage for appellate arguments in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that could possibly go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ridley-Thomas was sentenced to serve a prison term of three years and six months beginning Nov. 13. Marilyn Flynn, a former head of the USC School of Social Work, pleaded guilty to a bribery charge in the case, has been sentenced to 18 months of home confinement and ordered to pay a $150,000 fine.

In a statement, Alyssa Bell, a member of Ridley-Thomas’ appellate team said the lawyers who handled the former councilman’s 12-day trial in Los Angeles “laid the groundwork for what we believe to be an exceptionally strong appeal. We are already examining and analyzing several potential grounds that could result in reversal of Dr. Ridley-Thomas’ convictions.”

Those grounds included a claim that the government failed to provide sufficient evidence to support the jury’s guilty verdicts.

Author: Wallace