The Region - News from June 4, 1985

The dismissal of grand theft charges against South Gate Municipal Court Commissioner J. Francis Spelman will be appealed to the state Appellate Court, the district attorney’s office announced. Spelman, along with South Gate Municipal Court Presiding Judge John R. Hopson, were indicted in February by the county grand jury on charges of overbilling the county $10,165 for defending indigent clients. The charges were dismissed in April by a Superior Court judge who ruled that the grand jury did not have enough evidence to show criminal intent. Spelman, who has known Hopson since 1949 when both were Los Angeles police officers, billed for as many as 24 hours of work a day while working as a private attorney before becoming a court commissioner. No appeal is planned on the charges against Hopson, who signed many of Spelman’s billing sheets, Deputy Dist. Atty. Harry B. Sondheim said.