Lawyers for former Los Angeles politician Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was convicted of bribery, fraud and conspiracy, asked a federal judge Monday to overturn the jury’s guilty verdict and order a new trial or acquit their client outright. speak.

Defense attorneys argued that prosecutorial misconduct, insufficient evidence, and inaccurate and inappropriate testimony by the lead FBI agent in the case warranted the jury’s verdict being vacated.

This is a case of miscarriage of justice,

said

Defense attorney Daralyn Durie told U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer:

eliciting murmurs of approval from more than 100 people crammed into the seventh-floor courtroom. The crowd included lobbyists, former staffers, Ridley-Thomas’ wife and a public relations team who assisted him in his defense.

Fischer did not rule on either of the two motions filed by the Ridley-Thomas legal team for a new trial, the

other

request an acquittal. I will make my decision known as soon as possible, the judge said at the end of the hour-long hearing.

Jurors convicted the former LA City Council member of four counts of Honest Services fraud and one count of Honest Services mail fraud related to sending a $100,000 donation from a campaign fund to USC, knowing that the university would then send the money to a non-profit organization. profit organization would be directed by his son.

He was also convicted of one count of bribery and conspiracy, alleging the $100,000 donation was part of a broader bribery scheme in which Ridley-Thomas, 68, snatched special benefits for his son from USC while voting in favor of motions and a mental ballot. health contract requested by the university.

His co-defendant, Marilyn Flynn, pleaded guilty to bribery last year and is expected to be sentenced

later

this summer.

Ridley-Thomas will also be sentenced

later

this summer, subject to the outcome of his legal team’s motions for a new trial and an acquittal.

Defense attorney Galia Z. Amram summarized a litany of legal flaws claimed at trial, arguing first that there was scanned evidence of Ridley-Thomas performing an official act, a requirement for the honest services fraud.

Although prosecutors claimed

claimed

that Ridley-Thomas “voted” to renew LA County’s contract with USC for a remote mental health treatment program, Amram said there was no evidence of an actual vote. This item has been approved on the Board of Trustees’ Consent Calendar, which groups several non-controversial items together and has been passed as a batch.

The FBI agent had limited information about what the consent calendar meant, Amram said. The absence of evidence on this, she said, was insufficient to prove the official act.

They did not show him raising his hand, Amram said. They didn’t show him saying yes.

Amram claimed prosecutors offered an omission theory that Ridley-Thomas should have stopped an assent vote and raised his hand. There was no evidence that absenteeism counts as an official act, she said, which is why the honest services fraud convictions should be lifted.

But assistant US Atty. Lindsey Greer Dotson rejected the idea that the records of a 2018 Board of Trustees meeting showed no official action, citing a vote in a public meeting as the clearest, most dispositive official action.

Defense counsel may argue that a vote is not a vote, Dotson said. she said

That

separately, the evidence indicated “there was agreement to perform an official act”, justifying the maintenance of the guilty verdict.

Dotson said that “there’s no mistake here” in her argument against a new trial, adding that “99%” of what the defense lawyers claimed were mistakes were never challenged at trial.

“These are forfeits,” Dotson said.