Stephen Yagman

Stephen Yagman (born December 19, 1944) is a former federal civil rights lawyer and advocate. He had a reputation as an effective counsel and advocate, particularly in cases regarding allegations of police brutality,^[1] and as a "pugnacious civil rights lawyer."^[2][3]

On November 22, 2010, Yagman was disbarred, based upon federal convictions, on June 22, 2007, for tax evasion, bankruptcy fraud, and money laundering.^[4] Yagman contended that the IRS had selectively and vindictively prosecuted him, ignoring the difference between tax avoidance, which is legal, and tax evasion, which is not,^[4] because, as Idaho Special Prosecutor (1997–2001), he prosecuted homicide charges against FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi for allegedly murdering Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992^[5] and because on January 19, 2002 he brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee case and won it on December 18, 2003.^[6] Yagman's federal convictions remain on appeal under 28 U.S.C. 2255, before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.^[7]

Youth, education and early career

Stephen Yagman was born in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York to working-class parents. His father was a dental technician and his mother was a secretary.^[3] Yagman attended Abraham Lincoln High School.^[8] After attending the State University of New York at Buffalo, he then graduated from Long Island University in Brooklyn. He received a B.A. in American History, with minors in philosophy and political science, and later earned an M.A. in philosophy from New York University. He attended Fordham University School of Law, receiving his JD in 1974, where he was on the dean's list and received the Jurisprudence Award of the Guild of Catholic Lawyers. ^[9] During graduate school and law school, Yagman taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant from 1967-74. From 1967 until their divorce in 1994, he was married to Marion R. Yagman, with whom he practiced law for many years after their divorce. ^[10]

Legal career

Yagman's legal career began before he graduated, as an attorney-intern with the New York City Legal Aid Society. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, attorney Charles Garry, house counsel to the Black Panther Party, and former U.S. Attorney General, Ramsey Clark. After graduating law school, he was appointed to the office of the New York State Attorney General as an Assistant Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes.

In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar." Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark (1966–69) seconded Judge Reinhardt's accolade: "Only the valiant have dared to sue the police for lawless violence and excessive force against the people. Foremost among the valiant is Stephen Yagman, who has bearded the lion in his den time and time again."^[10]University of California Irvine's Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky stated that Yagman had been "particularly important to bringing challenges to police abuse ... [and] helped to develop the law in this area in a very positive way and represented a lot of people who needed counsel."^[10]

In 1994, Yagman prevented the implementation of California Proposition 187, by obtaining a preliminary injunction barring public schools from excluding undocumented students, and then converting the preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction, after the Proposition was declared unconstitutional.^[11]

After the February 28, 1997 North Hollywood shootout, Yagman represented, pro bono, the children of Emil Matasareanu, Jr., one of the robbers killed in the shootout. In the federal civil rights action filed against the LAPD and its officers, it was alleged that the officers intentionally kept on-scene paramedics away from Matasareanu so that he would bleed to death and die on the street, instead of providing him with necessary medical attention that could have saved his life.^[12] The jury hung 9-3 in favor of the Matasareanu family, a mistrial declared, and the case never retried.

On November 12, 1997, Yagman was sworn in by U.S. Dist. Judge Robert M. Takasugi as Special Prosecutor for the State of Idaho to prosecute FBI sniper Lon T. Horiuchi in the August 22, 1992 Ruby Ridge killing of Vicki Weaver (where he also served pro bono). In 2001, Yagman won a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declaring that federal law enforcement agents did not enjoy sovereign immunity and could be prosecuted criminally for state law homicide. Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001)(en banc). In January 2002, Yagman brought, pro bono, the first case seeking habeas corpus relief for Guantanamo Bay detainees, and in December 2003, won the first case in which it was declared that Guantanamo detainees were entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in United States courts. Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004).^[2][8]

In County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said that Yagman: "has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff's advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent." Sone of his most notorious cases involved the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department .^[13][14] On December 19, 2014, U.S. District Court Judge Dean D. Pregerson called Yagman a "highly experienced [civil rights] attorney[]" and awarded him fees at the rate of $750 per hour and credited him with putting an end to the custom of prisoners being forced to sleep on jail floors. Thomas v. Baca^[15]

In 2003 and 2006, Yagman provided pro bono defense in two, three-month-long trials Amy Prien, a mother charged with the murder of her three-month-old son. It was alleged that Prien breast fed her infant son methamphetamine-laced breast milk. The first trial was lost and Prien was sentenced to life in prison. After a successful appeal, in the second trial the jury hung 9-3 in favor of acquittal, and the district attorney declined to proceed to a third trial, working out a plea deal.^[16]

Yagman lodged complaints of judicial misconduct against U.S. District Judge Manuel Lawrence Real which "were at the center of the controversy over the effectiveness of the federal judicial disciplinary system and exerted a uniquely powerful influence on subsequent attempts at reform."^[14] The United States Judicial Conference cited Yagman in adopting its 2008 nationawide procedures for handling complaints of misconduct against federal judges. In his 2011 book, Lawyers on Trial, UCLA School of Law Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Abel rated Yagman as a "highly competent, dedicated lawyer who is a champion of unpopular causes".^[17]

Yagman cases

• Armster v. City of Riverside, 611 F.Supp. 103 (C.D. Cal. 1985; police who stand by and observe other police commit civil rights violations may be held liable for failing to prevent the violations)
• Armster v. United States District Court, 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986; wholesale suspension of civil jury trials in federal courts based on budget shortfall violates Seventh Amendment to U.S. Constitution)
• Cabrales v. County of Los Angeles, 864 F.2d 1454 (9th Cir. 1988; first case in which Los Angeles County jail system held liable for inmate suicide)
• Children Who Want an Education v. Wilson, 908 F.Supp. 755 (C.D. Cal. 1995; Proposition 187 declared unconstitutional and enjoined)
• Crumpton v. Gates, 947 F.2d 1418 (9th Cir. 1991; an in-utero fetus may sue police for killing his father once he is born)
• Cunningham v. Gates, 229 F.3d 1271 (9th Cir. 2000; elected government officials may be held liable personally for indemnifying police guilty of civil rights violations for punitive damages levied against them by juries)
• Dang v. Cross, 422 F.3d 800 (9th Cir. 2005; redefines basis for punitive damages against police to include infliction of oppressive conduct)
• Diaz v. Gates, 420 F.3d 897 (9th Cir. 2005; establishing principle that police may be sued under federal racketeering statute for injuring one in her employment), cert. denied sub nom. Parks v. Diaz, 126 S.Ct. 1069 (2006)
• Erickson v. Knapp, 938 F.Supp. 581 (C.D. Cal. 1996; police may not seize news photographer’s camera without probable cause)
• County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000; defense attempt to disqualify Yagman denied)
• Fowler v. Block, 2 F.Supp. 2d 1268 (C.D. Cal. 1998; holding it unconstitutional for sheriff to continue to hold in custody person ordered by court to be released, in order to check for outstanding warrants)
• Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004; first case to hold that Guantanamo Bay detainees entitled to petition federal courts for habeas corpus)
• Green v. Baca, 225 F.R.D. 612 (C.D. Cal. 2005; imposing $54,375 sanction on police defense counsel for concealing 11,704 pages of reports from plaintiff)
• Guerrero v. Gates, 442 F.3d 697 (9th Cir. 2006; plaintiffs' excessive force claims are not barred by prior conviction arising from same events; loss of employment sufficient to state an injury to business under racketeering laws)
• Hammer v. Gross, 932 F.2d 842 (9th Cir. 1991; forced blood tests may not be administered to drunk driving suspects)
• Hart v. Gaioni, 354 F.Supp. 2d 1127 (C.D. Cal. 2005; establishing right to sue in federal court for the denial of the right to sue in federal court through interference with a plaintiff’s right of counsel)
• Hawkins v. Comparet-Cassani, 33 F.Supp. 2d 1244 (C.D. Cal. 1998; holding unconstitutional use of 50,000-volt stun belt on prisoner who was before the court);
• Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001; establishing right of states to prosecute criminally for homicide federal officials)
• In re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct (Judge Manuel L. Real), 425 F.3d 1179 (9th Cir. 2005)(finding judicial misconduct because of judge taking action on improper communication from a party)
• Johnson v. Campbell, 92 F.3d 951 (9th Cir. 1996; jurors may not be challenged because they are gay)
• Larez v. Gates, 946 F.2d 630 (9th Cir. 1991; setting forth seminal standards for suing government based on having a custom of police misconduct)
• Milstein v. Cooley, 208 F.Supp. 2d 1116 (C.D. Cal. 2002; there is a clearly established due process right not to be prosecuted based on fabricated evidence)
• Moreno v. Baca, 431 F.3d 633 (9th Cir. 2005; suspicion-less arrest and search may not be retroactively justified by police subsequent to discovery that person arrested is on parole or subject to an outstanding arrest warrant)
• Motley v. Parks, 432 F.3d 1072 (9th Cir. 2005; parole search must be preceded by probable cause; unreasonable to point a gun at a baby while searching);
• Standing Committee on Discipline v. Yagman, 55 F.3d 1430 (9th Cir. 1995; lawyer has right of freedom of speech to criticize federal judge and may not be disciplined for doing so, creating the so-called “Yagman Rule”)
• Thomas v. Baca, 231 F.R.D. 397 (C.D. Cal. 2005; granting class action to more than 500,000 Los Angeles County jail inmates forced to sleep on the floors without bunks)
• Thomas v. Baca, 514 F.Supp. 2d 1201 (C.D. Cal. 2007; holding unconstitutional forcing jail inmates to sleep on floors without bunks)
• Vanke v. Block, 98-04111-DDP (C.D. Cal. 11-07-98; granting class action to 22,000 Los Angeles County jail inmates, and issuing preliminary injunction that prohibited sheriff from refusing timely to release inmates who had been ordered to be released, but whom sheriff continued to detain to search for outstanding warrants).

Writings

Yagman has written two national legal practice books, Section 1983 Federal Jury Practice and Instructions (West Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0-314-22826-8), and Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions (Thomson Reuters West, 2002, ISBN 0-314-10293-0), a play, Guantanamo, Act IV (Beyond Baroque, 2004), and hundreds of newspaper columns.

Sources

• Los Angeles Reader, “L.A.P.D. Death Squad”, April 10, 1992, cover
• Los Angeles New Times, “Cop Cruncher”, October 2, 1997, cover
• Los Angeles Times Magazine, “One Angry Man”, June 28, 1998, cover
• California LawBusiness, “Sympathy for the Devil”, November 6, 2000, cover
• Jerome Herbert Skolnick and James J. Fyfe, Above the Law, Police and the Excessive Use of Force (Free Press, 1993), pp. 17–18, 146-64, 203.

References