Prosecutors will say justice has been done. That for the good of the Los Angeles taxpaying public they brought down a corrupt career politician “who abused his position of power” for personal gain, such as Martin Estrada, USA

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Attorney for the Central District of California, urged from the steps of the US Courthouse.

But not much about what happened to LA City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas on Thursday afternoon feels like justice.

Permanently sidelining someone who has been so effective in providing funding and programs and infrastructure for oft-neglected Black Angelenos, so much so that he is sometimes referred to as a one-man institution in black politics, actually feels like opening the door to more injustice .

And yet here we are.

After five days of deliberations, a jury found Ridley-Thomas guilty in a sprawling federal case involving a quid pro quo with then dean of USC’s social work program, Marilyn Flynn. The crimes dated back to his time on the LA County Board of Supervisors when, prosecutors alleged, he traded county contracts to help his son, then board member Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, get admission, a job and a scholarship from USC. to get.

Jurors sifted through hundreds of emails, phone records and other documents before convicting him of conspiracy, bribery, honest mail fraud and honest services fraud.

It wasn’t a slam dunk though. The jury found him not guilty of a dozen other fraud charges. And as deliberations progressed, there was a division over whether there was a quid pro quo before the jurors finally agreed beyond a reasonable doubt.

Given that I wasn’t in the room to personally examine the mountain of evidence, I won’t quibble with the verdict. I leave that to any professions.

Still, the seven-count conviction means that at age 68, Ridley-Thomas could be sentenced to several years in a federal prison. And what had been a storied political career, spanning elected offices in both state and local government, is now over.

According to the city charter, he must be removed as a representative of the city’s 10th council district, leaving it without a voting member for the time being anyway. Whatever happens, it will create a power vacuum that will be difficult, if not impossible, to adequately fill in a time of increasing poverty and racial inequalities.

Mayor Karen Bass called it “a sad day for Los Angeles and I feel that sadness personally. For decades, Mark Ridley-Thomas has been a champion for our city, a civil rights activist, an opinion leader and a policy maker who has made a real impact on this city.”

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Marqueece Harris-Dawson, meanwhile, echoed that sentiment, tweeting: “When those in power chose to forget about our community, Mark Ridley-Thomas centered and lifted us.”

How justice?

Not according to many of the Black Angelenos I’ve spoken to, even those who aren’t in elected office or don’t personally know Ridley-Thomas.

At the courthouse during closing arguments last week, black pastors, black entrepreneurs

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other black politicians showed up in support. Some were invited to come. Many others just came on their own.

They all seemed frightened and watched and listened intently as the prosecutors spoke.

He used his power to enforce privileges for his son, Assistant US Atty. Lindsey Greer Dotson had said, grunting disapprovingly. Civil servants cannot monetize their public service. As a politician you work for us, you work for the taxpayer.

And when lead defense attorney Daralyn Durie told jurors that everything that happened at USC was legal, if inappropriate, that same Ridley-Thomas

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supporters nodded and sighed in relief.

During intermissions, when people gathered in the hallway, many wondered aloud why, in a world where politicians do real harm to the public every day, federal prosecutors would go after someone who wasn’t. In other words, why is this the corruption we care about?

Estrada, speaking at that press conference Thursday from the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown LA, said

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The people who chose Mark Ridley-Thomas were entitled to fair service. They had a right that he would not act corruptly. But instead he engaged in political corruption and that is why he was sentenced today.

As my Times colleague Matt Hamilton pointed out, this Ridley-Thomas conviction is the most high-profile in a series, all handled by a team of hot

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shot prosecutors of corruption in the local US law office.

Earlier this year, they received a guilty plea from former Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar on racketeering and tax evasion charges for slashing real estate developers. Among other things, he admitted to extorting at least $1.5 million in bribes not long after it became known that he had gambled in Las Vegas with a billionaire developer.

Two years ago, former Los Angeles Councilman Mitchell Englander agreed to a plea deal in an obstruction of justice case involving the acceptance of money, hotel rooms and other gifts while traveling to Las Vegas and Palm Springs.

Meanwhile, Ridley-Thomas?

He didn’t go to Las Vegas.

He was convicted of aiding his son, who resigned from the State Assembly, allegedly for health reasons, but also while facing a sexual harassment investigation.

I don’t have kids, but I know this is the kind of thing parents can understand

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: Wanting to help their adult children get out of trouble. It’s certainly the kind of thing that powerful, white people do all the time, often with little to no repercussions.

Just think of our obviously corrupt former president, Donald Trump, who hired most of his adult children to work in the White House, even those with a sketchy history and an even worse decision.

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making while on the public dime. And yet it has been years since Trump left office and he has just been designated

allegedly

paying hush money to a porn star.

In the meantime,

there is

Ridley-Thomas? What he got for helping his son in the quid per quo with USC actually benefited his constituents.

The process involved three votes by the Board of Supervisors, including for a telehealth medication

clinic, a probation center and a training program for probation officers. They all match the legislative record of the then regulator.

In fact, as closing arguments

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Friday, Assistant US Atty. Michael J. Morse reminded jurors that the only question for you is, did the defendant do these things for Marilyn Flynn so that she would do things for him?

It is not a defense that any actions taken were good for the community or were actions the defendant would have taken [without a bribe]he said.

Given Thursday’s guilty verdict, Morse is right. This is clearly not a defense in a court of law. But in the court of public opinion, where Black Angelenos sit and weigh issues of harm to our community, it’s a different matter.

How justice?

It was served, just not for all of us.