Former Mayor Eligible for Bail

Former Compton Mayor Omar Bradley, who is serving a three-year sentence after his conviction on felony corruption charges, is eligible for release on bail pending the outcome of his appeal, a state appellate court has ruled.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal on Thursday ordered that a hearing be held within three weeks to set the bail amount. The hearing before Superior Court Judge Jack W. Morgan, who presided over Bradley’s trial last winter, will be held Dec. 21.

Bradley, 45, has been serving his sentence at a halfway house in Los Angeles, where he was sent by the state Department of Corrections after processing at the state prison in Chino, said his trial attorney, Ben Pesta.

He said Bradley will remain at the Volunteers of America facility until the hearing before Morgan.

Prosecutor Terry Bork said the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office had not yet decided how much bail it would seek.

But Pesta said Bradley was bankrupt, so any substantial bail could keep his client in the halfway house, where he already has served about nine months of his sentence.

Bradley was convicted in February of using his city-issued credit card to pay for personal golf rounds, hotel rooms, clothing and in-room movies. He also was convicted of taking cash advances for city business expenses and then charging those items to city credit cards and pocketing the money.

Convicted at the same time on similar charges were former Compton City Manager John Johnson and former Compton Councilman Amen Rahh. Johnson was sentenced to three years in prison. Rahh was ordered to perform 250 days of community service.

Bradley’s appellate attorney, Ralph H. Goldson, filed an appeal with the 2nd District Court. Bradley was convicted of spending public money without authority of law, and Goldson argued that the authority of law was never properly defined.

Goldson, who suffered a heart attack over the weekend, was not available for comment Monday.

Bradley’s lawyers asked that he be released on bail pending the appellate proceedings. Prosecutors opposed the motion.

Pesta and Bork said that under the law, three criteria must be met for release on bail in an appellate case: The defendant is not a danger to the community; the defendant is not likely to flee; and there are tangible appellate issues to be resolved.

Neither side argued that Bradley was dangerous, but Bork said Bradley had not demonstrated adequately that he was not a flight risk. Bradley’s lawyers said there were valid appellate issues; Bork said there were none.

Morgan denied bail, but Goldson pursued the issue before the appellate court. In its terse ruling that Bradley was eligible for bail, the appellate court declined to explain its reasons, stating simply: “The application is granted.”

Bradley is allowed to leave the 50-bed, minimum-security facility five days a week to work with a job training program for the developmentally disabled. But he must spend nights and weekends there.