American Justice: Smokers, the con man and the quality of our lives
Once again Wednesday, I found myself sitting in Department 101 of the Van Nuys Municipal Court to observe the case of the People of Los Angeles vs. Nadya Mahdavi and Fidelity Investments LLC who are accused in a criminal complaint of illegally converting a single-family house in my tract into a three-apartment tenement.
She was standing in the hallway chatting on her cell phone and smiled sweetly at me as I headed into the courtroom. She was there to finally enter a plea to the four misdemeanor charges dating back nine months to when the Building and Safety Department first cited her for construction without a permit.
As the citations grew in number and finally turned into criminal charges, Mahdavi had managed to avoid even getting to the point of entering a plea, first by failing to appear, then appearing without a lawyer and then getting a continuance.
Assistant City Attorney Don Cocek assured me she wouldn't get another delay.
So I sat in court and listened to case after case of people facing everything from petty theft to drug charges to building code violations to spousal abuse.
Muncipal courts are fascinating, the place where ordinary people come against the law with little chance of escaping the consequences.
Nancy Johnson and Nzinga Owolo, like most of the defendants, found there was no alternative to pleading guilty to the crime they were accused of: Smoking in the park.
"Cigarettes?" I asked Johnson.
"Yes," she said, "my cousin and I went to Balboa Park to fish, for tilapia mostly, and we lit up cigarettes and we're just talking when the ranger came up and wrote us up."
Johnson and Owolo pleaded guilty and were fined $30 each. But the court costs raised their penalty to $250 each because smoking in the park is a misdemeanor crime, not just an infraction, so the fees are high and they now have criminal records which makes those fish they were catching pretty expensive.
"It's crap" Johnson said. "Ridiculous There's no signs posted. We went around the park and took pictures but nobody cares. They just want your money."
Once again Wednesday, I found myself sitting in Department 101 of the Van Nuys Municipal Court to observe the case of the People of Los Angeles vs. Nadya Mahdavi and Fidelity Investments LLC who are accused in a criminal complaint of illegally converting a single-family house in my tract into a three-apartment tenement.
She was standing in the hallway chatting on her cell phone and smiled sweetly at me as I headed into the courtroom. She was there to finally enter a plea to the four misdemeanor charges dating back nine months to when the Building and Safety Department first cited her for construction without a permit.
As the citations grew in number and finally turned into criminal charges, Mahdavi had managed to avoid even getting to the point of entering a plea, first by failing to appear, then appearing without a lawyer and then getting a continuance.
Assistant City Attorney Don Cocek assured me she wouldn't get another delay.
So I sat in court and listened to case after case of people facing everything from petty theft to drug charges to building code violations to spousal abuse.
Muncipal courts are fascinating, the place where ordinary people come against the law with little chance of escaping the consequences.
Nancy Johnson and Nzinga Owolo, like most of the defendants, found there was no alternative to pleading guilty to the crime they were accused of: Smoking in the park.
"Cigarettes?" I asked Johnson.
"Yes," she said, "my cousin and I went to Balboa Park to fish, for tilapia mostly, and we lit up cigarettes and we're just talking when the ranger came up and wrote us up."
Johnson and Owolo pleaded guilty and were fined $30 each. But the court costs raised their penalty to $250 each because smoking in the park is a misdemeanor crime, not just an infraction, so the fees are high and they now have criminal records which makes those fish they were catching pretty expensive.
"It's crap" Johnson said. "Ridiculous There's no signs posted. We went around the park and took pictures but nobody cares. They just want your money."
Continue reading Whodunit Chapter Twelve: Who's Killing My Neighborhood.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.