Officials Appeal Order to Unseal Testimony on Police Shooting
Attorneys for Los Angeles city officials filed an emergency appeal Friday seeking to overturn a federal judge’s order that secret grand jury transcripts be given to plaintiffs in a civil rights case brought against the LAPD’s controversial Special Investigations Section.
In a petition filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, attorneys for the mayor, the City Council and police said the ruling by U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts needed to be overturned to “avert irreparable hardship, inequity and prejudice.”
Letts’ order gave the plaintiffs permission to review grand jury transcripts so they could determine whether testimony from officers during the grand jury probe of a 1990 shooting involving the SIS unit could be used for “impeachment purposes” in the civil rights lawsuits, which stem from incidents in 1995 and 1997.
No criminal indictments ever arose from the grand jury investigation.
City attorneys contend that the 1990 SIS shooting and grand jury investigation are not relevant to an incident that occurred more than five years later.
“Our clients feel strongly about this matter,” said attorney Skip Miller, who represents city officials. “We look forward to hearing from the 9th Circuit very soon.”
The elite SIS unit has been criticized for trailing suspects and watching them commit violent crimes before stepping in to arrest them. Police officials say that SIS officers trail some of the city’s most violent and unpredictable criminals.
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