Bradley Names Defense Lawyer to Police Board

Moving quickly in an attempt to restore public confidence in his beleaguered Police Commission, Mayor Tom Bradley named criminal defense attorney Michael R. Yamaki on Tuesday to fill the fifth and final seat on the citizen panel.

The appointment of Yamaki, a past president of the Japanese-American Bar Assn., came one day after a Superior Court judge temporarily set aside last week’s Police Commission order to put Police Chief Daryl F. Gates on a 60-day leave of absence.

City Council members have called on the mayor this week to overhaul the commission. They said in interviews Tuesday that changes are necessary to bring some balance and integrity to the civilian commission that oversees the Police Department.

“I believe that, as presently constituted, the Police Commission wants to make Daryl Gates a scapegoat,” said Councilwoman Joy Picus, a supporter of the chief.

In a prepared statement, Bradley alluded to the importance of Yamaki’s appointment as the Police Commission begins its investigation of Gates in the wake of the police beating of black motorist Rodney G. King on March 3.

“It is an extraordinary time for the city, our Police Department and our Police Commission,” the mayor said. “I am confident Michael Yamaki has the personal fortitude to consider objectively and fairly the decisions that face the commission in the coming months.”

At the forefront of those decisions will be the commission’s investigation of Gates. Several City Council members have accused Bradley and his aides of using their political influence with the mayor’s appointees on the Police Commission to oust Gates. Bradley has denied any political meddling with the commission decision to put Gates on leave.

Yamaki said he had no opinion on whether Gates should resign.

“I don’t see this as just a battle between the mayor and the chief,” Yamaki said. “The central issue is whether the beatings are institutionalized. Everyone agrees that is the problem.”

If confirmed by the City Council, Yamaki would be the first Asian-American to serve on the city panel. He is chairman of the Asian advisory committee to the Police Commission.

As a criminal defense attorney, Yamaki successfully defended one of three people who were tried in connection with a 1984 Chinatown jewelry store shootout that left a Los Angeles police officer and two holdup suspects dead. Yamaki’s client was acquitted on charges of having served as an accessory to murder for allegedly harboring one of the gunmen. During the case, Yamaki got a confession made by his client, Thong Huynh, thrown out of court by arguing that he had not properly received his Miranda rights against self-incrimination because a police officer recited them in a dialect of Chinese different than the one Huynh speaks.

Asked about police reaction to Yamaki’s appointment, Los Angeles Police Protective League President George Aliano said his members are “not going to like it.”

Aliano complained that the Police Commission is supposed to be a citizen panel, but only friends, fund-raisers and those with political ties to Bradley seem to get appointed. “You don’t see the kinds of citizens I’m talking about . . . like citizen volunteers. There’s always a connection (to Bradley),” he said. “There should be a couple of moderates . . . rather than everyone out of the same mold and philosophy.

“It concerns me we are not given an opportunity to have a say in it. You’d think they would care about what’s important to us.”

Yamaki, 43, said he has no concerns about being accepted by officers because he is a “strong supporter” of the Police Department.

To avoid any potential conflict of interest, Yamaki said in an interview, he will not represent any clients who are arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Yamaki said he had been pushing the mayor’s office to appoint an Asian-American to the Police Commission.

“One of the things they were concerned about was getting someone acceptable to the Police Department who wouldn’t be looked upon as someone who was a police-hater,” Yamaki said.

He said one of his primary objectives will be to recruit more Asian-American officers.

Yamaki joins three other lawyers on the Police Commission--President Dan Garcia, Vice President Melanie Lomax and Sam Williams--and civil libertarian Stanley Sheinbaum.

Yamaki and Sheinbaum were appointed to fill vacancies created by two commissioners who quit recently. Sheinbaum, whose nomination was approved by the City Council last week, is vacationing in Europe and played no role in the commission’s decision on Thursday to place Gates on a paid leave.

The decision to remove Gates has led several council members to suggest that the mayor shake up the commission.

“I’m bothered by the whole appearance of unfairness and the hasty rush to make a decision. . . .” Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said. “If (the commissioners) behaved in their private law practice the way they behaved in the Police Commission, they would not be successful attorneys.”

Yaroslavsky said “a surgical change or two” in the current makeup of the commission would be welcomed by the council.

Councilman Hal Bernson said: “If the mayor really means what he says about establishing credibility and bringing the community together, he ought to appoint a new Police Commission and . . . get some people who are unbiased and are interested in healing this community.”

Times staff writer Rich Connell contributed to this story.