Pomona : Order Restrains Activist

The city has obtained a restraining order from a Pomona Superior Court judge in an attempt to prevent further disruptions of City Council meetings by a combative community activist.

The order, issued last week at the request of City Atty. Patrick Sampson, enjoins John Marshall Lawrence from entering the council chambers except during times designated for public comments, and requires him to obey the council’s rules of procedure.

In requesting the order, Sampson said that Lawrence, 66, had disrupted seven council meetings in recent months. Lawrence faces five criminal charges in Pomona Municipal Court in connection with disrupting a public meeting. At three meetings, the most recent being Nov. 7, Lawrence was forcibly removed from the council chambers by police and taken into custody.

At a hearing last week on the criminal charges, a bailiff had to physically escort Lawrence into the courtroom after he refused to enter voluntarily. Lawrence then complained about the manner in which he was brought into the courtroom and sought to have Judge William Lamb excuse himself from the case for reasons of prejudice.

Lamb, a Mendocino County Municipal Court Judge who was brought in to hear the case after Lawrence succeeded in having two Pomona judges remove themselves as prejudiced, denied the request. The Judicial Council will designate another judge to decide whether Lamb may continue to hear the case.