A cabal of Los Angeles County Superior Court judges are attempting to crush a 70-year-old lawyer who uncovered illegal payments they were receiving from the County, all the while the County no longer was losing lawsuits. Coinkydink? I tink not.
Neither did Richard Fine, who has been jailed for 64 days (so far) on a trumped up "contempt" charge as judges scramble to cover their tracks. Meanwhile, local attorneys are saying they're far too afraid to become formally involved due to the highly negative impact taking such a stance might have on their futures.
After Mr. Fine discovered the judges' receipt of illegal payments from the County (which they obtained by converting environmental funds, among other things), California Senate Bill SBX 211 was concocted to give retroactive immunity to judges who received the payments.
This is the kind of ridiculous plot you'd expect to experience at a cheesy movie, but this farce is actually happening in real life. Unfortunately, a man with a lengthy career as a champion of justice is being held in one of the worst jails in the country, deprived even of paper and pencil upon which to craft a habeas corpus petition. (He did eventually manage to get a petition filed, but the nightmare continues as the district court judge sits on the case.)
Story here.
Anyone who may be interested in the cause of attempting to free Mr. Fine is invited to send an email to FreeRichardFine @ gmail.com (omitting spaces).