A judge Friday denied a defense motion to dismiss a public corruption case against City Councilman Curren Price, who was ordered earlier this year to stand trial on allegations he misused public funds and failed to disclose financial interests.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who oversaw Friday\u2019s hearing, sided with county prosecutors, saying there was ample evidence \u2014 albeit circumstantial \u2014 to move the case forward. Fidler ordered Price and attorneys to return to court Oct. 16 for a status conference.<\/p>\n
Price, 75, is charged with a dozen felony counts, including grand theft by embezzlement of public funds, conflict of interest and perjury.<\/p>\n
The councilman\u2019s attorneys, Michael V. Schafler and Alyssa D. Bell, wrote in their motion seeking dismissal of the case that Price is \u201ca dedicated public servant who has represented Council District Nine with distinction for over a decade,\u201d and that \u201cnone of those allegations has merit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 Over the course of a six-day preliminary hearing, the district attorney failed to adduce any evidence whatsoever of Price\u2019s criminal intent, a necessary element of each charge,\u201d according to the defense attorneys.<\/p>\n
In an opposition to the defense\u2019s motion, Deputy District Attorney Casey Higgins wrote that there is \u201coverwhelming proof that the defendant illegally received medical benefits, paid for with public moneys, based off an illegally obtained marriage; failed to disclose his conflict-of-interest on numerous votes he made; failed to properly recuse himself on numerous votes where he had a conflict of interest; and failed to properly report sources of income to his spouse, under penalty of perjury.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another judge, Shelly Torrealba, rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case in January following the six-day hearing, saying she found \u201csufficient cause\u201d for it to proceed to trial.<\/p>\n
During Friday\u2019s hearing, Price\u2019s lawyers challenged the district attorney\u2019s arguments, insisting that there was little to no evidence supporting allegations of embezzlement, conflict of interest and perjury.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors sought to show Price had created a process in which he could plausibly deny conflicts of interests or his failure to properly disclose financial ties to projects associated with his wife\u2019s business. They alleged Price created a process in which the councilman would communicate with his staff via private messages or emails, and used a hard drive to share information related to his wife\u2019s business.<\/p>\n
Bell maintained Price did not willfully or knowingly fail to disclose financial ties associated with himself or his wife on key City Council or committee votes. She argued there was no conspiracy to hide or circumvent the law.<\/p>\n
Bell further stated that prosecutors lacked evidence showing Price had organized such a process.<\/p>\n
Following the hearing, Schafler said in a statement that the court \u2014 despite denying the dismissal motion \u2014 acknowledged it was not a great case.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s decision was only that there is enough evidence to proceed to trial; not whether the charges have been or can be proven. We continue to believe that they can\u2019t and won\u2019t be proven,\u201d Schafler said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis does not change Council member Price\u2019s position or desire to fight these charges. He has maintained his innocence from the beginning, and he remains confident that the facts and law will ultimately clear his name,\u201d Schafler added.<\/p>\n
Price \u2014 who was elected in 2013 \u2014 will complete his third and final term in December and cannot run again for the post because he is termed-out. He has maintained his innocence.<\/p>\n
If convicted as charged, he could face up to 11 years and four months in custody, including as much as nine years and four months in state prison and up to two years in county jail, according to the District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
After the preliminary hearing in January, Schafler told reporters outside court he believed the prosecution\u2019s case has \u201ca lot of gaps, a lot of holes,\u201d and that the defense believes \u201cMr. Price will be vindicated and exonerated.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement released shortly after that hearing, Price\u2019s representative said, \u201cThe testimony presented during the hearing, including from key witnesses, clearly shows that Councilman Price did not act with any intent to do wrong and that the case rests on speculation rather than facts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angelina Valencia-Dumarot, executive director of communications for Price, said in the statement, \u201cWhile the court\u2019s ruling is disappointing, the council member remains fully committed to fighting these charges, clearing his name, and is confident the truth will ultimately prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his own statement shortly after the hearing in January, District Attorney Nathan Hochman called the judge\u2019s ruling \u201ca significant step toward holding L.A. Council member Curren Price accountable for years of alleged corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 The rules are clear: elected officials cannot enrich themselves at the expense of their constituents, cannot lie on disclosure forms, and cannot vote on matters in which they have a conflict of interest,\u201d Hochman added.<\/p>\n
Price pleaded not guilty to the initial 10 charges in December 2023, with two more charges filed against him last year.<\/p>\n
The councilman is accused of failing to list money that a company solely owned by his current wife, Delbra Pettice Richardson, received as a subcontractor from some developers \u2014 along with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority \u2014 which had pending matters before the City Council and failing to recuse himself from voting in favor of those projects. He allegedly failed to disclose information about the payments to Del Richardson & Associates on a form filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission.<\/p>\n
Price is also accused of embezzling nearly $33,800 in city funds from 2013 to 2017 to pay for medical benefits for Richardson, whom he allegedly falsely claimed was his wife, while still legally married to Lynn Suzette Price.<\/p>\n
Price is the latest Los Angeles city official to fall into legal or political turmoil.<\/p>\n
Former council members Jose Huizar and Mitch Englander both pleaded guilty to federal charges in recent years, while former Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas was convicted in 2023 of federal charges for trading votes during his time on the county Board of Supervisors in exchange for benefits provided by USC to his son.<\/p>\n
Former City Council President Nury Martinez resigned in 2022 after being caught on tape making racist remarks in a conversation with two other council members and a county labor official, discussing the council\u2019s redistricting process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A judge Friday denied a defense motion to dismiss a public corruption case against City Councilman Curren Price,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2602,5794,71061,41397,16047,48,52,51,47,50,49,1929,135566],"class_list":["post-427124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-charges","tag-councilman","tag-curren","tag-dismiss","tag-judge","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-price","tag-rejects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}