9th. Circuit Court of Appeal Denies his Motion for Reconsideration

August 26, 2009

By Tom Shapinsky

Today, the 9th. Circuit Court of Appeal denied Richard Fine's Motion for Reconsideration to be released pending his appeal.

Instead, the court's prior ruling is still in effect that his opening brief is due September 9, respondent's brief is due October 9, and his reply brief is due October 23. This effectively keeps him in jail for the next two months.

Fine is claiming in his appeal that Judge David Yaffee, who put him in jail, should have recused himself because he was receiving illegal payments from the County of Los Angeles, without disclosing this to all parties. A judge is required to disclose to all parties in a case if he has any conflict of interest regarding any party in the case. One of the parties in the case was the County of Los Angeles - who was paying him an extra and illegal $46,000 a year on top of his state salary of $178,000.

This story is of staggering proportions. The State of California is reeling from massive budget deficits that brought it to the brink of bankruptcy. Every municipality and county is likewise reeling from the effects of the economic recession. California's unemployment rate is 11.9%.

Yet, when the payments by California counties were ruled unconstitutional in the Sturgeon v County of Los Angeles case in October last year, Chief Justice George hired a lobbyist at $9,000 a month - from taxpayers no less - to bludgeon the state legislature to pass a bill in February of this year in the dead of night, to allow counties to continue those payments and to grant retroactive immunity to all those who had been receiving those payments for the last 20 years. Just in Los Angeles County alone, that amount is estimated to be about $300 hundred million out of the pockets of taxpayers. In the rest of California, that amount could well be in the $1 billion range.

At a time when California workers are losing their jobs, when California homeowners are losing their homes, its judges are walking off with a 25% pay increase without so much as a twinge of conscience, and the California politicians kow-towed to them.

Appeals for investigation of these violations of the law to the government bureaus that have a responsibility to protecting citizens from crimes by government authorities - FBI, U S Attorney General Eric Holder, and the House and Senate Judiciary Committees - Representative John Connolly and Senator Patrick Leahy - have so far been ignored by all these offices.

One homeowner, who did not wish to be identified, said: "This is the height of corruption. Every judge and politician should be sacked and sent to prison."

Ironically, California is seeking to release 27,000 prisoners early to solve its budget problems. Yet, it continues to keep Richard Fine - a 69 year old man - who has never harmed anybody - in prison because he has fought bravely for justice for the citizens of California for many years. Letters of support can be sent to him at:

Richard Fine, # 1824367
P.O. Box 1824367
Terminal Annex
Los Angeles
CA. 90086 - 0164

If you can do an Amicus brief, it should be sent to:

9th. Circuit Court of Appeal:
95 7th. Street
San Francisco
CA. 94103

The case number is 09-71692, Richard Fine v Sheriff of Los Angeles County.

He has given so much of himself for the citizens of this country that he should not be abandoned at this moment when he has been separated from his family for almost 6 months and locked in a windowless cell.