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Attorney Stephen Yagman | http://www.yagmanlaw.net/ |

BOOK: POLICE MISCONDUCT AND CIVIL RIGHTS
By Stephen Yagman 

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Selected by Stephen Yagman, these jury instructions form an outline of the law in Section 1983 actions, to charge a jury, and in closing argument. Setting out the factual and legal elements required, the instructions are supported by specific authority cases, practice commentary, and forms. Discusses Fourth Amendment cases, such as stops, arrests, searches, seizures, force, baseless prosecutions, Eight and Fourteen Amendment prisoner cases. Fourteenth Amendment cases, including due process, equal protection, employment; government and supervisor liability, defenses, consent and qualified immunity, general instructions, introductory and general, conspiracy, and color of law instructions, principles and practice; evidence, damages, and causation.
-- http://west.thomson.com/product/15050162/product.asp |

Allows fast, easy, and on-point research * Examines the factual and legal elements required to prove and defend Section 1983 actions * Supported by specific authority cases from which the instruction language was drawn * Provides a practice commentary, indicating the practical context of each instruction * Contains the jury instruction language, saving time in drafting and customizing instructions * Includes a convenient forms diskette

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UCLA Student Arrest | video | report 1 |

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November 18, 2006

UCLA orders outside probe of Taser arrest ~ with video |
The move comes hours after a protest march by more than 200 students.

By Richard Winton, Rong-Gong Lin II and Charles Proctor,
Times Staff Writers

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LA COUNTY DA: http://da.co.la.ca.us/ | http://da.co.la.ca.us/feedback.htm |

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November 17th ~ video |
a protest march by more than 200 students to the UCLA Police Department Headquarters

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Hoping to calm the furor created when UCLA police used a Taser to subdue a student studying in Powell Library, the university's acting chancellor announced Friday that a veteran Los Angeles law enforcement watchdog would head up an independent investigation of the incident.

Norman Abrams said he ordered the probe after the university received numerous calls and e-mails from parents and alumni raising concerns about the officers' actions during the videotaped Tuesday night arrest, which has been widely seen on TV news and the YouTube website.

"I want to assure them that the UCLA campus is a safe environment. Student safety and treatment are of paramount concern at UCLA," Abrams said. "We plan to move ahead promptly with a complete and unbiased review."

Abrams appointed Merrick Bobb, who was a staff attorney for the Christopher Commission and currently works as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' watchdog over the Sheriff's Department, to handle the probe. Abrams said Bobb has a proven track record looking into allegations of police misconduct, including the Rodney King beating and more recently the riots at the L.A. County jail system.

The move came hours after more than 200 students marched to the UCLA police station calling for an independent investigation into the Taser incident as well as the suspension of the officers involved.

Wearing signs reading, "I am a student, don't Taser me" and chanting, "Tasers out of UC," the protesters said it was an inherent conflict of interest for university police to handle the investigation of their own officers.

"What was done was unnecessary," said Rahmatullah Akbar, a senior majoring in psychology. "We as students don't deserve to be Tasered."

Tuesday's incident occurred about 11 p.m. in a library filled with students studying for midterm examinations.

According to the university, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, a 23-year-old senior, was asked for his ID as part of a routine nightly procedure to make sure that everyone using the library after 11 p.m. is a student or otherwise authorized to be there. Campus officials have said the long-standing policy was adopted to ensure students' safety.

Authorities said Tabatabainejad refused repeated requests by community service officers and regular campus police to provide identification or to leave.

UCLA Police Chief Karl Ross said the officers decided to use the Taser to incapacitate Tabatabainejad after he went limp while they were escorting him out and urged other library patrons to join his resistance.

Mavrick Goodrich, a chemical engineering major who observed the incident, said Tabatabainejad shouted, "Am I the only martyr?"

Some witnesses disputed the officers' account, saying that when campus police arrived, Tabatabainejad had begun to walk toward the door.

Tabatabainejad's attorney, Stephen Yagman, said his client refused to show his ID because he thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern appearance. Tabatabainejad is of Iranian descent but is a U.S. citizen by birth and a resident of Los Angeles.

The student was shocked five times with the Taser, Yagman said.

Another student used a cellphone camera to record portions of the incident, in which Tabatabainejad can be heard screaming in pain when the Taser shocks are administered.

One of the issues Bobb's investigation will examine is whether the officers complied with the university police rules for using Tasers.

Several local police agencies — including the LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department — allow officers to use Tasers only if a suspect poses a physical threat or is acting combatively.

The sheriff's policies expressly say deputies can't use Tasers simply to move someone.

"We look for assaultive conduct," said Bill McSweeney, chief of the sheriff's leadership and training division "We generally don't use the Taser on passive resisters except when an individual indicates explosive action to follow, such as a verbal threat."

But UCLA police are allowed to use Tasers on passive resisters as "a pain compliance technique," Assistant Chief Jeff Young said in an interview Friday.

Under UCLA policy, Young said, officers can use the weapons after considering the potential injury to police and to the individual as well as the level of resistance and the need for prompt resolution.

Young described Tabatabainejad as a "passive resister" who refused to cooperate with officers. He acknowledged that the student didn't actively resist the officers.

"He was 200 pounds and went limp and was very hard to manage. They were trying to get him on his feet," Young said.

The officers used the device in stun mode — which affects only the part of the body being touched — rather than the dart mode, in which tiny electrodes are fired into a person and pass a current through them, disabling the person entirely.

Young said police have used the Tasers "on several occasions" before but said he didn't know how many times.

The officers involved in Tuesday's incident were off duty Friday but had not been placed on administrative leave.

On Friday, many students remained outraged over Tabatabainejad's treatment.

"Once you have him subdued, you don't have to keep Tasing him," said Rohit Mahajan, a psychobiology major who watched the video. "You could see him crying. He's not a threat. He's maybe acting like a smartass, but he doesn't" deserve that.

The protest march was organized by leaders of the campus Muslim and Iranian American student groups. They support Tabatabainejad, though some demonstrators said they didn't think the officers' actions were motivated by his ethnicity

The American Civil Liberties Union also said that it was examining the incident.

"It is an appalling and traumatically excessive use of force on someone passive-resisting," said ACLU attorney Peter Bibring. "The officers seem so confident in what they are doing. They need to change their policies and training."

UCLA officials urged students and others to withhold judgment actions until the investigations are completed.

"Not all the events of Tuesday evening can be heard or viewed on YouTube," Ross said at a news conference with Abrams.

The acting chancellor expressed confidence in and respect for the UCLA police, and noted that Ross' department would continue with its own internal investigation.

"But there are times when it is helpful to turn to an outside review as well," Abrams said.
 

email: richard.winton@latimes.com | ron.lin@latimes.com |charles.proctor@latimes.com

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November 17, 2006

LOS ANGELES: A student shocked with a Taser gun by a campus police officer after refusing requests to show his ID card thought he was being singled out because of his Middle Eastern appearance, his lawyer said.

Attorney Stephen Yagman said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing the UCLA police of "brutal excessive force," as well as false arrest stemming from the Tuesday night incident at a campus library, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

Yagman's client, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, was shocked as police did a routine check of student IDs at the University of California, Los Angeles Powell Library computer lab.

Yagman said Tabatabainejad declined to produce his school ID because he thought he was being targeted because of his appearance. The 23-year-old senior is of Iranian descent but is a U.S.-born resident of Los Angeles.

Tabatabainejad eventually decided to leave the library but fell limp on the floor when an officer escorting him out would not take his hand off him, Yagman said. Tabatabainejad did not want to participate in what he considered was a case of racial profiling, the lawyer said.

The student started yelling and screaming after police started using the Taser to gather attention and get the officer to stop, according to Yagman.

"Generally, police don't want to do their dirties in front of a lot of witnesses," he said.

But police have said Tabatabainejad encouraged others at the library to join his resistance, and when a crowd began to gather, an officer used the stun gun on him. They said it was long-standing policy to ask students to show ID at libraries late at night to keep the campus safe.

Tabatabainejad was arrested for resisting and obstructing a police officer and later released on his own recognizance.

The incident was recorded on another student's camera phone and showed Tabatabainejad screaming while on the floor of the computer lab. It was the third incident in a month in which police behavior in the city was criticized after amateur video surfaced. The other two involved the Los Angeles Police Department.

UCLA's interim chancellor, Norman Abrams, urged the public to withhold judgment while the campus police department investigates.

Student activists were planning a midday rally Friday to protest the incident, and several civil rights organizations including Amnesty International and the Council on American-Islamic Relations were calling for an independent review.

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Chicago Tribune |
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- A UCLA police officer shocked a student with a stun gun at a campus library after he refused repeated requests to show student identification and wouldn't leave, police said. The student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, was shocked Tuesday about 11 p.m. as police did a routine check of student IDs at the University of California, Los Angeles, Powell Library.

"This is a long-standing library policy to ensure the safety of students during the late-night hours," said UCLA Police Department spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein. She said Tabatabainejad, 23, encouraged others at the library to join his resistance, and when a crowd began to gather, police used the stun gun on him. Tabatabainejad was arrested for resisting and obstructing a police officer and later released on his own recognizance. He declined to comment Wednesday.

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Los Angeles TImes |
Laser incident: An article in Thursday's California section about UCLA student Mostafa Tabatabainejad being stunned with a Taser gun by campus police officers incorrectly quoted an article in the Daily Bruin, the campus newspaper. The Times article said: "The video shows Tabatabainejad yelling, 'Here's your Patriot Act, here's your use of power.' " What he actually said, according to the Daily Bruin, was, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your … abuse of power." The ellipsis indicates a profanity.

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Los Angeles Times |

A third incident, a new video A cellphone camera captures UCLA police using a Taser on a student who allegedly refused to leave the library Tuesday night.

By Amanda Covarrubias and Stuart Silverstein,
Times Staff Writers November 16, 2006

The latest in a recent spate of cellphone videos documenting questionable arrest tactics surfaced Wednesday, this one showing a UCLA police officer using a Taser to stun a student who allegedly refused to leave the campus library.

Grainy video of the Tuesday night incident at UCLA's Powell Library was broadcast Wednesday on TV news and the Internet, prompting a review of the officers' actions and outrage among students at the Westwood campus.

The footage showed the student, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, falling to the ground and crying out in pain as officers stunned him.

According to a campus police report, the incident began when community service officers, who serve as guards at the library, began their nightly routine of checking to make sure everyone using the library after 11 p.m. is a student or otherwise authorized to be there.

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For the Record: In a earlier version of this article, a quote from Mostafa Tabatabainejad read: "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your use of power." The corrected quote reads " "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ... abuse of power."

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Campus officials said the long-standing policy was adopted to ensure students' safety.

When Tabatabainejad, 23, refused to provide his ID to the community service officer, the officer told him he would have to show it or leave the library, the report said.

After repeated requests, the officer left and returned with campus police, who asked Tabatabainejad to leave "multiple times," according to a statement by the UCLA Police Department.

"He continued to refuse," the statement said. "As the officers attempted to escort him out, he went limp and continued to refuse to cooperate with officers or leave the building."

Witnesses disputed that account, saying that when campus police arrived, Tabatabainejad had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack. When an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, the witnesses said, Tabatabainejad told the officer to let go, yelling "Get off me" several times.

"Tabatabainejad encouraged library patrons to join his resistance," police said. "The officers deemed it necessary to use the Taser."

Officers stunned Tabatabainejad, causing him to fall to the floor.

The video shows Tabatabainejad yelling, "Here's your Patriot Act, here's your ... abuse of power," the Daily Bruin reported, adding he used a profanity.

"It was beyond grotesque," said UCLA graduate David Remesnitsky of Los Angeles, who witnessed the incident. "By the end they took him over the stairs, lifted him up and Tasered him on his rear end. It seemed like it was inappropriately placed. The Tasering was so unnecessary and they just kept doing it."

Campus police confirmed that Tabatabainejad was stunned "multiple" times.

By then, Remesnitsky said, a crowd of 50 or 60 had gathered and were shouting at the officers to stop and demanding their names and badge numbers.

Remesnitsky said officers told him to leave or he would be Tasered.

Tabatabainejad declined to comment. He was arrested Tuesday night and cited by campus police for resisting and obstructing a police officer and was released.

The incident was the third videotape of an arrest to surface in the last week in Los Angeles.

One video showed a Los Angeles Police Department officer dousing a handcuffed suspect in the face with pepper spray as the suspect sat in a patrol car.

That video came to light Monday, just days after the LAPD and the FBI launched investigations into another videotape showing a police officer hitting a suspect in the face several times after a foot chase in Hollywood.

UCLA Assistant Police Chief Jeff Young said Wednesday that he had viewed the video of the campus incident on the Internet and would view any other videos that were shot.

"We will gather as many samples as we can find, from different sources," Young said. "We'll use it for our own administrative investigation."

UCLA Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams said in a statement that university police are investigating the incident and the officers' actions.

"The investigation and review will be thorough, vigorous and fair," he said, adding that compliance with the ID policy is "critical for the safety and well-being of everyone."

Young said Tasers, which discharge an electric current to incapacitate a suspect, are seldom used by the campus police department.

On campus Wednesday, many students said they were surprised by news of the incident.

"UCLA is a very peaceful campus," said Chen Mei, a third-year political science student from Laguna Hills. "I study in Powell Library at night all the time. I've seen people without ID cards who are removed. But none of the time has it been this dramatic."

Karen Jou, a second-year student from Orange, said the campus police "usually are really good."

"I wouldn't have thought that would have happened here," she said. "It's really odd."

Julia Newbold, a third-year English literature major from Walnut Creek, said her impression from her limited contact with campus police was good.

"They seem like a peacekeeping force," she said. "I'm really surprised to hear they had to resort to something like that. It sounds a little too forceful to me to Taser someone."

email: amanda.covarrubias@latimes.com | stuart.silverstein@latimes.com |

Civil rights lawyer Yagman found guilty of tax evasion

The verdict could end the career of the combative attorney, who brought hundreds of cases against the LAPD and other agencies. By Joe Mozingo and Henry Weinstein Times Staff Writers

June 23, 2007

Civil rights attorney Stephen G. Yagman, whose relentless quarter-century crusade against police brutality drew both admiration and ire, was convicted Friday in federal court of 19 felony counts of tax evasion, bankruptcy fraud and money laundering.

The verdict, if upheld on appeal, would end the career of the combative and pioneering litigator, who brought hundreds of cases against the Los Angeles Police Department and other law enforcement agencies. 

Yagman, 62, could be sentenced to more than six years in federal prison, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Alka Sagar.

The Venice attorney leaned back in his chair with an impassive expression as U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson read the jury's verdict.

After the jury filed out, Sagar argued that Yagman should be taken into custody or put on electronic monitoring before his sentencing, scheduled for Sept. 24. But Wilson ruled that he was not a flight risk and allowed him to remain free on a $100,000 bond.

Yagman and his attorney, Barry Tarlow, declined comment after the verdict.

It was a rare moment of restraint for Yagman, whose record of litigation was matched only by his vociferous criticism of all manner of authority.

In court filings, Tarlow argued that the case was a "vindictive prosecution" for Yagman's "contentious history with federal law enforcement agencies."

Yagman had railed against federal prosecutors and judges for failing to uphold civil rights laws. In 2002, he filed the first federal suits challenging the Bush administration's policy of imprisoning terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

As a special prosecutor, he pursued charges against the FBI sniper who killed the wife of white separatist Randy Weaver in the Ruby Ridge shootings. And he sued the IRS for violent conduct by an agent and won a $650,000 settlement.

But after a contentious four-week trial, in which Yagman was on the stand for several days, the jury didn't believe his claim that he was unfairly targeted. 

It upheld every count and act alleged in the June 2006 indictment: that he hid his assets, committed bankruptcy fraud and laundered money in a scheme to avoid paying more than $200,000 in state and federal taxes.

Prosecutors alleged that Yagman had transferred the deed of his house to his girlfriend, K.D. Mattox, and deposited all of his income into her account, while signing checks in her name. They also claimed he had filed for bankruptcy in New York so trustees would not find his assets in California.

"Hours after he filed for bankruptcy, he spent $2,000 in shoes and clothing … on Madison Avenue," Assistant U.S. Atty. Beong-Soo Kim told jurors during the trial. And he went out to a $260 dinner, he added.

Tarlow, for the defense, presented benign explanations for the same actions. He said Yagman transferred the deed to his house to Mattox to give her a sense of security in their relationship after she moved from Orange County to be with him, he said.

The jury deliberated about 12 hours before reaching its unanimous verdict Friday.

Reaction to the verdict was widely split.

Former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates let out a slow, deep chuckle. "What can I say? He's been playing the system for a long, long time," he said. "This is a real bad man, a disgrace to the bar."

Joe Gunn, a retired LAPD commander and a deputy for former Mayor Richard Riordan, said Yagman undermined the department's standing in minority communities with false allegations. "He won very few cases, but you say things long enough and people start believing it."

At the other end of the spectrum, Paul Hoffman, former legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, called the conviction "a tragedy."

"Communities like ours need people like Steve — someone who is willing to stand up to authority regardless of whether they are likely to win. It keeps those in power honest."

Veteran civil rights lawyer Carol Sobel said Yagman has left a lasting legacy. "There is case after case that he won [legal] precedents that we all rely on, including one that held that city officials could be held liable for ignoring continued abuses by the police department." 

Yagman first represented victims of alleged police abuse in Los Angeles in 1980 and has said he has won about $2.5 million a year in judgments — upward of $65 million.

Among his high-profile cases were those against the LAPD's secretive SIS unit, which was formed to coordinate surveillance against criminal suspects. The unit has been involved in more than 50 gun battles and the deaths of at least 37 suspects. Yagman regularly referred to the unit as a death squad.

It wasn't the only statement Yagman made that generated controversy. 

He called Gates "the personification of evil" and compared U.S. District Judge Manuel Real to the head of the Spanish Inquisition. 

When he accused U.S. District Judge William D. Keller of being anti-Semitic, a special disciplinary committee suspended Yagman from practicing in the federal courts for two years. Some 100 local lawyers rallied to his side, and a year later, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the suspension, saying it violated Yagman's 1st Amendment rights.

Yagman also was suspended by the State Bar of California twice for charging clients "unconscionable" fees.

His co-counsel on one of the Guantanamo cases, Duke University constitutional law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, said he was saddened by the news. "Steve is a person of unlimited courage in his willingness to fight injustice."

He planned to call Yagman later Friday night, but did not know what he would say. "Hallmark does not make cards for occasions like this."

joe.mozingo@latimes.com

henry.weinstein@latimes.com