{"id":1373,"date":"2011-09-18T14:41:39","date_gmt":"2011-09-18T21:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2019-05-30T14:10:20","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T21:10:20","slug":"tcal-forum-takes-on-justice-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2011\/09\/18\/tcal-forum-takes-on-justice-system\/","title":{"rendered":"TCAL forum takes on justice system"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"RJ<\/a>
Los Angeles defense attorney RJ Manuelian addressed the crowd at TCAL’s Justice Forum Saturday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 The Community Action League (TCAL) rallied residents Saturday to take a stand against a justice system they claim is failing the poor and minority communities of Lancaster and Palmdale.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many of you are fired up today?\u201d Board Member V. Jesse Smith said, to cheers from the diverse crowd of about 75. \u201cIt\u2019s time for us to take back our justice system!\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s comments came during TCAL\u2019s Justice Forum Saturday afternoon at the Palmdale Moose Lodge. The Forum featured a panel of attorneys who educated residents about the justice process and gave advice on countering the elements of a system they claim puts minorities at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n

Private defense attorney Amy Konstantelos cautioned the crowd against using public defenders, whom she said were not invested in the community.\u00a0 \u201cThere are only so many people willing to live up here and so the majority [of public defenders] are coming from other areas, coming with the promise that they only have to stay 18 months,\u201d Konstantelos\u00a0 said. \u201cThey are short timers and they\u2019re just counting their days until they can get out.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also claimed that public defenders in the AV were often new and inexperienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn essence, they are practicing on you,\u201d Konstantelos\u00a0 said.<\/p>\n

Another attorney panelist, RJ Manuelian, a criminal defense attorney from Los Angeles, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shocks me in Lancaster that they\u2019re sending people up here that don\u2019t have experience to sort of work on you like a project and that\u2019s a shame,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Attorney panelists also said judges were scaring defendants into taking plea deals because there wasn\u2019t enough time or space in the courts to handle all the cases.<\/p>\n

They urged attendees to assert their constitutional rights and demand a jury trial over a plea bargain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Lancaster more than other places, they have a shortage of courtrooms for the number of cases they have,\u201d said Konstantelos. \u201dIf everyone asserted their constitutional rights up here and demanded a jury trial, this system would grind to a stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFriends don\u2019t let their friends plead guilty,\u201d Manuelian said. \u201cIf you believe you haven\u2019t committed a crime, don\u2019t take a deal. What are you scared about?\u201d<\/p>\n

Attendees were given the opportunity to pose specific questions to the attorney panel. Many attendees made claims of being unfairly harassed and in some cases arrested by deputies.<\/p>\n

Manuelian encouraged residents to file a complaint immediately after each alleged incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should comply with the police, but what I would do to make their jobs a little more difficult and to create more of a nightmare for them, as far as paperwork, is complain,\u201d Manuelian said. \u201cIf you do that, and he does that, and everybody does that, then eventually that list gets into an attorney\u2019s hands and ultimately will be able to be used to avoid future circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manuelian also suggested that residents combine their complaints into a possible class action suit against the sheriff\u2019s department.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way your voices are heard in this society with sheriffs breathing down your necks is when you hit them in the pockets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, residents were encouraged to write their names and contact information on a sheet labeled \u201cDepartment of Justice Complaints,\u201d to allow TCAL Board Members to contact them for future actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to follow up with the complaints and forward the complaints as deemed necessary to the appropriate attorneys,\u201d said TCAL Board Member Nigel Holly. \u201cWe want to make sure that they are properly represented and that they are not being railroaded.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meeting also included a voter registration table. Additionally, Steve Ipsen, candidate for Los Angeles County District Attorney 2012, detailed his Reform First plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 The Community Action League (TCAL) rallied residents Saturday to take a stand against a justice system they claim is failing the poor and minority communities of Lancaster and Palmdale. \u201cHow many of you are fired up today?\u201d Board Member V. Jesse Smith said, to cheers from the diverse crowd of about 75. \u201cIt\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}