Richard Fine’s Judicial Lynching

The Law Offices of Richard I. Fine & Associates (richardfinelaw.com) web site says he established the firm in 1974. His credentials include a Doctor of Law from the University of Chicago, a Ph.D in International Law from the London School of Economics, a Certificate from the Hague Academy of International Law, among his many other awards, including Lawyer of the Decades 1976 – 2006.

He’s also been widely published in legal journals with regard to antitrust, comparative and international law. Fine’s resume is long and impressive.

Before entering private practice, he “founded and was chief of the first municipal antitrust division in the United States, for the City of Los Angeles.” He was also Special Counsel to the Government Efficiency Committee of the LA City Council, and a member of the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division.

In addition, he practiced law in London and with another firm before establishing his own. He was also Norway’s Southern California Consul General.

Detailed information can be found on Home (Free Richard fine), established by his friends and associates seeking justice in return for Fine’s years of public service as a taxpayer-advocate attorney.

From the early 1990s until his illegal disbarment and March 4, 2009 jailing, Fine challenged and corrected state corruption, returning about “$350 million to California taxpayers which state, county and municipal governments (unlawfully took from) ’special funds’ and ‘trust funds’ in a series of taxpayer cases filed in federal” and state courts, specifically:

– $6 million returned to the Tidelands Trust Fund (TTF) in Malibu Video, et al. v. Wilson, et al.;

– in other cases against California cities and ports, another $350 million prevented from being unlawfully spent from TTF;

– the class action Lido v. State of California returned funds not paid to small and minority businesses during California’s budget crises;

– in Shinkle, et al. v. City of Los Angeles, Fine got the city to change its “sewer service charges” calculation method, saving residents “tens of millions of dollars” annually;

– in Amjadi and LACAOEHS v. LA Board of Supervisors, et al., LA County had to establish a special environmental inspection fee fund from wrongfully deposited funds in its General Fund; also freeze its environmental inspections fees until an initial $11 million deposit was spent, as well as deposit about $40 million annually into a “special fund” for environmental inspection fees; and

– many other legal victories against corrupt state officials saving California taxpayers about “$1 billion,” illegally “enrich(ing) developers, and blatantly trampl(ing) the people’s rights;” Fine calls it “a true story….wrapped up in one man’s personal nightmare.”

Overall, he stopped “Twenty-Six Years of California’s Annual Budget Crisis,” and was the first lawyer to “Challenge, In Court, The Unconstitutional Payments Given By Los Angeles County (Supervisors) To The Los Angeles County Superior Court Judges,” over $300 million since the late 1980s.

Over the same period, these “judges decided cases and made orders in favor of the County to the exclusion of the opposing parties in cases before them.” For example, from 2005 – 2007, no one won a case against the county in courts presided over by LA Superior Court judges. Over many years, as a result, Californians were swindled out of hundreds of millions of dollars, and most troubling of all, county judges knew “taking payments from LA County was unconstitutional,” in violation of the Code of Judicial Ethics and Political Reform Act for not disclosing them.

The same practice was common around the state, but not like in LA County, where state legislators exempted judges and county supervisors from prosecution.

For his many years of crime fighting, Fine was charged with “contempt of court” and “moral turpitude,” disbarred by California’s Supreme Court and jailed by Superior Court Judge David Yaffe “in retaliation for bringing the cases and exposing the unconstitutional payments,” ones later held to be unconstitutional.

Fine’s case is currently before the US Supreme Court. The California Bar waived its right to respond, meaning his appeal is unopposed. Also in his favor was a late 2009 decision in Sturgeon v. LA County (brought by Judicial Watch) deciding that county payments to judges are illegal.

Yet, with the help of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George, state-paid lobbyists got legislators to pass “a midnight bill” (SBX2-11) at the peak of last year’s budget crisis, changing the law to make the payments appear legally authorized to continue, besides giving everyone involved retroactive immunity from criminal prosecution.

The latest on SBX2-11 immunity is that it’s not in the “official Code” like the rest of the bill, Fine’s friends and associates asking, “Why are they hiding this pardon of over Ten Million Felonies from the public.” They further say the bill “is an ex post facto law. Its immunity provisions will ultimately be repealed,” so complicit judges aren’t off the hook.

As of mid-April, 2010, Fine remains in LA County Men’s Central Jail, the “worst jail in the United States,” according to an ACLU investigation and report (aclu.org/prisoners-rights/aclu-releases-report) calling it “nightmarish” because of severe overcrowding (with over 20,000 detainees), violence, and overall conditions causing serious mental illness.

Fine is held in solitary confinement under horrendous conditions to punish him – with no fresh air, bright all-night overhead lighting, and no pen and paper to petition a higher court, a right ever serial killers get. Also, reporters (at least until now) were denied permission to interview him. He’s not allowed to post bond or get a hearing, and is ordered to stay in jail until he relents and withdraws his charges.

“This is the beginning of what happens when you lose a democracy. There is absolutely no question I’m a political prisoner,” held without bail, without trial, and with every state appeal denied. The issue is “a straight out-an-out abuse of power, and I’m the person who went in and called them on it….This is the biggest judicial scandal and judicial bribery scheme in American history. My being in jail for (over a year) should show you that no one is immune from this abuse of power.”

Fine’s case exposes the dark underside of California politics and appalling level of official malfeasance, involving greedy developers, corrupt LA County Supervisors and judges, the state Supreme Court, its Bar Association, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, co-conspiring to protect ongoing criminality and punish anyone challenging it.

On April 9, Contra Costa Times writer Troy Anderson headlined, “Supreme Court to hear Fine case,” quoting Brooklyn Law School Professor Jayne Ressler, an expert in “coercive confinement” saying:

“The fact the Supreme Court is involved in any way is a big deal. It certainly speaks volumes to the importance of this case, and it’s quite intriguing.”

At issue is Fine’s “coercive confinement,” but he also hopes California corruption will be addressed. The issue of judges’ pay is currently before the California Supreme Court, but given how judges and legislators conspire, it’ll likely go nowhere to let illegal behavior continue.

The state Supreme Court disbarred Fine. Superior Court Judge David Yaffe jailed him for allegedly practicing law while being inactive and refusing to answer questions about his assets to pay court-ordered attorney fees in connection with a Marina del Rey case.

The US Supreme Court will hear his case on April 23. It gets thousands of applications annually, but considers about 80 or 90 at most. His appeal cites the precedent of a Los Angeles newspaper reporter jailed in 1972, in contempt, for refusing to divulge sources relating to the Charles Manson case. After six weeks in confinement, the US Supreme Court ordered him released while his case was considered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. “Lower courts later determined that lengthy confinements for contempt” are to punish in violation of “legal limits on punitive sentences for contempt.”

The US Supreme Court has the final say. Meanwhile, at age 70 and in deteriorating health, Fine remains incarcerated, his freedom very much in jeopardy.

Also at issue is due process and judicial fairness, fast disappearing in America and denied anyone challenging corrupt power and privilege effectively. Fine did it courageously and expertly. He’s now paying the price.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday through Friday at 10am US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national topics. All programs are archived for easy listening.

Richard Fine’s judicial lynching for exposing corruption in L.A.

I have just been made aware of this interesting case of a prominent lawyer, Richard Fine in Los Angeles County Jail being held without due process in horrible conditions because he is revealing some alleged major corruption in L.A. with the Judges Associations and the County. From what I have read, it looks like there are payments being made to the judges based on cases against L.A. County that are in favor of the county.

From what I am reading, very few cases have gone against the county and that looks to be the core of the problem. Because there is an incentive for them to rule in favor of L.A. county, this looks to be a huge conflict of interest. As quoted “Fine was charged with “contempt of court” and “moral turpitude,” disbarred by California’s Supreme Court and jailed by Superior Court Judge David Yaffe “in retaliation for bringing the cases and exposing the unconstitutional payments,” ones later held to be unconstitutional.”

This sounds like some major corruption in the core of the L.A. legal system and need to be rooted out if true. The fact that he is being treated in this manner and no one is paying attention tells me there is some truth here and compelled me to shed some light on his case.

Note: immunity is never given when no crime was committed.

Analysis: This is a political prisoner that is being used to send a message that this is what happens when you challenge power and the status quo. Totally opposite to democracy and justice and I hope he wins big time and more corruptions is brought to light. We can not allow this to happen in America or what do we really stand for?

LJ Miehe

http://www.businesseconomicsnews.com/analysis/focus-richard-fines-judicial-lynching-for-exposing-corruption-in-l-a.html

When I first read this I was skeptical about the sanity of this attorney, Fine, but when I read this, the State Bar opinion: http://members.calbar.ca.gov/courtDocs/04-O-14366-2.pdf I’m nonplused. The State Bar claims moral turpitude against him because he filed numerous 170.6 challenges against a Commissioner Mitchell over the years. This is a common challenge and isn’t a big deal.

This case against attorney Fine looks really bogus. The California State Bar is overrun with homosexuals (no disparagement, just a fact) and you practically have to be found lying in a gutter with a needle sticking out of your arm and wads of clients’ stolen cash stuffed in your pocket and theft of attorney trust funds to get disbarred; and to top it off, it takes decades to take place.

And then to jail the attorney!

One more note, the Judge (Frederick P.) Horn mentioned in the pdf document (interesting to note they never, not once, in the entire document mentioned Judge Horn’s full name) is a complete a$$ and his involvement in this adds to my belief that this is truly, as this attorney Fine says, politically-motivated. Horn is so bad-tempered and unfit for the judgeship, after moving him around to different departments where they found he made trouble wherever he went, they made him presiding judge of Orange County Superior Court (and now apparently heads the California Judicial Council—talk about the Peter Principle) so as to keep him off trials as much as possible. The presiding judge typically spends his days doling out cases to other judges.

This really smells. Fine is starting to look more and more like a patriot; a crazy patriot perhaps, but a patriot nonetheless.

Uh oh. I just read his daughter is an editor for the Huffington Post. But I don’t care who or what his daughter is, keeping a man in jail for over a year without a trial is an outrage.

From http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_14923238

Group gathers to urge freedom for taxpayer advocate Richard Fine
By Troy Anderson, Staff Writer
Updated: 04/20/2010 06:00:44 PM PDT

Chanting “This is America, not Russia,” about 75 people gathered Tuesday morning outside the downtown Stanley Mosk Courthouse to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to free former taxpayer advocate attorney Richard I. Fine from jail.

In Washington, D.C., about 50 people staged a similar protest on the steps of the high court, which is scheduled to meet Friday to decide whether Fine should be released.

Fine, a 70-year-old Tarzana resident and former U.S. Department of Justice attorney, has spent more than a year in Men’s Central Jail for contempt after refusing to divulge financial information. Fine was placed under “coercive confinement” following a series of cases in which he alleged judges received an extra $57,000 in pay from the county on top of their $179,000 annual state salaries. Fine alleged that these “undeclared bonuses” render judges biased in cases where the county is a defendant.

“Richard Fine has been cruelly, unjustly punished for bringing to light a judicial issue that affects each of us as Los Angeles residents and U.S. citizens,” said Chatsworth resident Janette Isaacs, co-organized of “Free Richard Fine,” a grassroots, community organization committed to ending judicial corruption in California.

“This could happen to anyone.”

Retired Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Richard Valdemar, who served as the “jailer” in the case of Los Angeles Herald-Examiner reporter William Farr who was held in jail in 1972 for contempt for refusing to divulge sources relating to the Charles Manson case, said a person has a right to actually be charged with a crime if they are held in jail for more than a year.

“We don’t even house our misdemeanor people in jail for more than a year,” Valdemar said. “Yet Mr. Fine is being held longer and it’s not like Mr. Fine is a kook or something. This is a man who is an expert on the law and is trying to do the right thing. He’s basically a whistleblower and he’s being punished for that.”

In a letter to the Supreme Court, Fine’s daughter, Victoria Fine, an editor with The Huffington Post, asked the justices to release her father “from the horror he and my family have endured during the last 13 months of our lives.”

“He has raised me to trust in our country’s justice system to uphold freedom, democracy and moral right,” she wrote. “I admit that as today, as my father sits in solitary confinement, I have very little faith left in our American system. But now, as I write to you, I place that faith in your hands to make the decision that will free my father and send him home to my mother and me.”

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.