Council Ordered to Give Yagman Record of Vote Indemnifying Officers

A federal judge Tuesday ordered the Los Angeles City Council to release a computerized record of its vote to give monetary aid to police officers ordered to pay a brutality judgment--setting the stage for a trial that could make council members financially liable, as individuals, for police misconduct.

The computer printout that documents the council’s action on April 22, 1992, is only a small part of a complicated case stemming from a shootout in which Los Angeles police killed three robbers and wounded a fourth as they fled a MacDonald’s restaurant in Sunland in 1990.

But the lawyer who won access to the official record, Stephen Yagman, says it should help prove his claim that the council fostered a policy of police brutality when it voted to have the city pay punitive damages that were assessed against the officers in a trial.

An attorney for the City Council said it would be no problem to comply with the pretrial ruling by U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts, who ordered that the computer record be immediately turned over to Yagman.

A trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the case, which was filed on behalf of 4-year-old Johanna Trevino, daughter of one of the slain men. Yagman, who specializes in cases charging police brutality, contends that council members owe the girl punitive damages out of their own pockets because of their vote relieving the officers of the obligation to pay the damages personally.

He said he has tried in vain to obtain an exact record of the vote, which he said was originally contained in a public file, then removed and stamped “privileged.”

The city attorney said the vote was privileged information because it was taken during a private, executive session, and pertained to a legal matter.