Witness LA

Deconstructing the Conviction of Mark Ridley-Thomas: Part 10 – The U.S. Government changes its story

On May 30, of this year, the conviction of former President Donald Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney prompted a renewed discussion on the importance of the rule of law in the U.S. A reminder of ...
Witness LA

Youth Diversion Programs in LA and SF Offer Kids Accused of Serious Crimes a Chance to Make Things Right

For a little over six months, kids accused of some serious crimes in Los Angeles County have the opportunity to avoid incarceration, court, and convictions through a special youth diversion program ...
Witness LA

Deconstructing the conviction of Mark Ridley-Thomas: Part 5 – Alleged Quid Pro Quo Contracts & MRT’s Prison Sentence

The sentencing of Ridley-Thomas was originally set to take place on Monday, August, 21. But by Friday, August 18, as residents of Los Angeles County were nervously eyeing a the approach of a hurricane ...
Witness LA

Deconstructing the Conviction of Mark Ridley-Thomas: Part 9 – Filing With the 9th Circuit

On Thursday, January 25, the team of five appellate attorneys who are now representing Mark Ridley-Thomas filed their 102-page brief in order to appeal their client’s conviction with the United States ...
Witness LA

41st and Central, 1969 – The Black Panther Shootout & the birth of SWAT

On December 9, 1969, a four-hour shootout took place at the Southern California Headquarters of the Black Panther Party. The massive exchange of gunfire was between a cluster of six Panther members ...
Witness LA

New Report Says LA County’s Deputy Gangs Promote a “secretive, violent, us-against-them” police culture

The last week wasn’t an easy period for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and some of the community members they were policing. Over the weekend, an Instagram video went viral of an ...
Witness LA

Disturbing new lawsuit alleging 16-year-old boy forced to take estrogen in LA juvenile hall as behavior control “medication” points again to urgent need for oversight of ...

On June 7, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted on a new motion co-authored by Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Janice Hahn, that when it passed early on Tuesday afternoon, will ...
Witness LA

A controversial prosecution, a series of threats, & the struggle to provide genuine oversight for the nation’s largest sheriff’s department – Part 1

On Thursday, March 20, 2025, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna attended the monthly meeting of the county’s Sheriff’s Civilian Oversight Commission—or COC. The sheriff was scheduled to give a ...
Witness LA

Are Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s “criminal investigations” of so-called adversaries chilling oversight of the LASD? A report says yes.

An alarming new report was introduced during the last few minutes of the virtual meeting of the sheriffs Civilian Oversight Commission on Thursday, July 15. The ten-page report, written by Sean ...
Witness LA

LA County Probation Presents “Global Plan” for Housing Youth in Halls and Camps

Two years ago, on March 7, 2023, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors directed the LA County Probation Department to develop what they called a “Global Plan” to reorganize and move incarcerated ...
Witness LA

Case Going to Trial of LA Sheriff’s Investigator Claiming Retaliation for Refusing to Falsify Job Apps & to Raise Big $$ for Tanaka

In early 2015, former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy Ban Nguyen filed a civil lawsuit alleging that he was retaliated against when he refused to falsify paperwork for certain unsuitable job ...
Witness LA

A Violence-Prevention Helpline for Those Who Want to Change Gains Ground in California

Jacquie Marroquin spent much of her childhood living in fear of her father. A child of undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, Marroquin – who grew up in Los Angeles in the 1970s – worried that ...