Gentle reader, When a whale dies in the open ocean, its corpse slowly sinks through darker and colder layers, before finally landing on the barren seafloor. As decay sets in, a molecular message spreads with the tides: in death there is life, come feed.
"But if we could guess, we’d say it was The Big Sleep, packed as it is with blackmail and worthless rich kids, gambling dens and all-day suckers, plot elements that never quite tie together and an abiding sense of melancholy for how, in yearning to connect, Angelenos somehow find themselves ever more alone, and the only escape is death." Genius.
Thanks! Your observations at the library event, which we linked to, seemed even more significant, in light of David Ambroz working with the FBI to record conversations with the former Planning Director Michael LoGrande.
Now that Raymond Chan's retrial has concluded, it becomes clear that his original trial could have continued without Harlan Braun in the court room.
One can see that false declarations were filed with the court on behalf of Raymond Chan.
Judge Walters accepted without question these declarations which contained preposterous claims about Raymond' Chan and Harlan Braun's enormous investment of time and effort to prepare the defense.
This was done to support a claim that no other attorney could substitute for Braun in the court room, not even with Braun able to consult on a daily basis from outside the court.
Instead of ordering Chan to immedeately begin preparing an alternate attorney for the court room with Braun available to consult - instead, Judge Walters placed the proceedings in limbo for 4 weeks to wait for Braun to recover sufficiently to return to court.
The result was no preparation of a substitute attorney for 4 weeks. Allowing the jury to spoil. Necessitating the mistrial.
Our biggest questions about Braun's representation was if he was responsible for the racially tinged unhinged accusatory communications with the USAs, or if those originated from Ray Chan's attorney son Jeremy, who was supposed to be assisting in the case. Although Jeremy "Jerry" Chan was allegedly his father's partner in the secret consulting business that overlapped with Ray Chan's city employment, he didn't testify, nor did we ever see him in the courtroom. https://twitter.com/esotouric/status/1448838012415131648
:Look forward to hearing Judge John Walter explain his erstwhile decision making process.
He was informed about the alleged juror comment.
Initially, he decided to do nothing.
Later, his decision changed - so he took a dive into the deep end of his own ethically-confused mind pool.
And thus he contaminated all the waters.
What other choice was there?
Walters should have informed his fellow judges at the courthouse of the potential issue at hand.
Another judge or panel of judges could have been assigned to investigate the matter, interview the parties involved, decide on the appropriate handling.
Now, everything that Walters has produced may be called into question.
Today is the big day - May3, 2024. Scheduled hearing on defendant Chan Motion for Mistrial or Post-Verdict Examination of Jurors.
Looking forward to hearing about the mandatory JUROR adhesive I.D. patch worn by all jurors, which includes the Dept. number of the court room which they are assigned to.
How else would the Deputy who overheard the comment about " quick verdict" be able to identify the group as jurors from the Chan trial and know to report the comment to Judge Walter's court?
Look forward to hearing how Judge John Walter's discovered the jury elected their foreman right after closing arguments and just before dismissal on that day?
Considering that Judge John Walter's eschewed any questioning of the jury post-closing arguments and post-verdict.
We'd been looking forward to getting a better perspective into what the jury did inside and outside court, too. And in retrospect, we regret leaving after closing arguments and not sticking around for jury instructions and exiting the courthouse when the jury did. But that last day had been exhausting and we didn't suspect what happened next would be so consequential.
Thanks for your perspective on the case. Is there a judge in the Federal courthouse you'd like to see handling public corruption?
So Judge Walter conducted the investigation and made the ruling on the motion.
Did he determine the comment overheard by the CRD was not significant? Or the entire incident may have been fabricated to create a pretext for a mistrial?
The Huizar-Chan allegations contributes to a loss of confidence in the integrity of our L.A. City process.
Judge Walters contributes to a loss of confidence in the integrity of our judicial process.
The judge who should preside over public corruption trials would need to have his own power base and travel with his own small army to survive.
Whether or not one favors Jose Huizar or Raymond Chan or other defendants be found guilty or innocent doesn't remove the red flag waving here.
The rapid-return verdict indicates a jury has not fulfilled its obligation correctly.
That is a huge issue. Judge Walters is not concerned that his juries are malfunctioning.
The colleagues who serve on the bench with Walters should be concerned that his juries are malfunctioning.
The absence of attention or urgency indicates a widespread collapse of confidence in the integrity of our system and a loss of faith that integrity can be restored.
the CRD who overheard the statement uttered by one of three Chan trial jurors outside the courthouse does not work in Judge Walters court room. The CRD works in a different court room in the same DTLA Federal Court House as Judge John Walters.
How anyone who willfully participated in the Raymond Chan trial charade can sleep at night is a mystery.
The govt. investigators and U.S. Attorneys and Judge Walters all draw their govt. paychecks in exchange for producing a huge steaming pile of horse manure.
Outrageous. Appalling. Sickening.
This deserves an investigation with the power to suspend Judge John Walter.
Pull the tapes!
Federal Court House DTLA should be running surveillance video covering the entire exterior perimeter of the facility. Pull the tapes and show us three Raymond Chan jurors exiting the building followed by another Raymond Chan juror followed by a Courtroom Deputy from the Chan trial.
Without surveillance video or some other supporting evidence, all we are left with to support a motion for mistrial is Judge John Walter.
All the information from which the defendant will prepare his motion for mistrial issues from the testimony of Judge John Walter. The ruling on the motion will issue from Judge John Walter.
Judge John Walter claims he received the information on the day of jury deliberation and verdict.
Judge John Walter admits he told no one and took no action to speak with any juror before dismissing them from any further duties.
Judge John Walter cites some rule of procedure as preventing him from recalling any juror to verify the incident.
Judge John Walter claims to have interviewed the unnamed CRD to verify the information.
Did Judge John Walter send the jury for 15 minutes of deliberation following closing argument before ending the day? Why would he do that? Did the jury use the 15 minutes to select a foreman before heading out to the parking lot?
Judge John Walter's testimony about the alleged incident conveys a veiled threat to the foreman of the Chan jury.
It could be considered a veiled threat to every person on the Chan jury.
The Kobe Bryant copter crash photos civil trial provides a solid introduction to Judge John Walters directing style and the cinematic tricks he relies on. Knowing this, the Raymond Chan trial becomes equal parts predictable and appalling.
Judge Walters is a purveyor of bluff and misdirection.
In the preliminary hearings leading up to trial in the Bryant copter crash photo case, Walters informed the parties of a high probability he would split the case into two separate trials with two separate juries. One trial would decide the issues and the second trial would decide the damages.
Walters claimed the high level of complexity involved in the case would necessitate the split.
As the trial drew near, Walter's concern about complexity faded away. The issue was no longer mentioned and the case remained as one trial.
However, Judge Walters decided that two separate lawsuits over the issue - one filed by widow Jessica Bryant and the other filed by widower Chris Chester - would be combined into one trial with the parties acting as co-plaintiffs.
This was the critical decision which facilitated the complimentary co-plaintiff strategy. The strategy that delivered a multi-million$$ jury award to the co-plaintiffs. Following a land speed record deliberation.
Potentially derailed by a cause for a post-verdict mistrial, which was quickly swept under the rug by Walters.
We can only hope the govt. will someday deliver a "trial indictment", in addition to an indictment of Judge John Walter.
We may be surprised, but Judge Walter was not surprised with light-speed rapid jury deliberations.
There is no reason he should be surprised, as the instructions given by the judge to the jury are meant to guide their approach to the deliberations.
Let's give credit where credit is due.
Walters is a master orchestra conductor, tipping the scale of the critical elements at the precise juncture to guide a trial to its desired conclusion.
A review of Judge Walter's performance in another recent high-profile trial(Kobe Bryant copter crash photos) provides compelling evidence that anything which appears unexpected or accidental has only been framed for the audience to view it that way.
One can only speculate that . Walter is selected as director of these big-budget L.A. noir trials because of his record of reliability.
He delivers a quality product for the studio to distribute.
Thank you Kim and Richard. You really put in hard work with this article.
You're welcome, Don. This distills a lot of notes--but we feel we're getting better at court reporting all the time!
"But if we could guess, we’d say it was The Big Sleep, packed as it is with blackmail and worthless rich kids, gambling dens and all-day suckers, plot elements that never quite tie together and an abiding sense of melancholy for how, in yearning to connect, Angelenos somehow find themselves ever more alone, and the only escape is death." Genius.
Ah, thanks!
Fantastic read, thank you!
Thanks! Your observations at the library event, which we linked to, seemed even more significant, in light of David Ambroz working with the FBI to record conversations with the former Planning Director Michael LoGrande.
So Biden’s Vice-roy, Eric Garcetti & his beard Vice-reine in New Delhi, Amy Wakeland walk.
And the whole Wesson crew, too!
Good tie-in to The Big Sleep! Good luck with the John Fante tour!!
Now that Raymond Chan's retrial has concluded, it becomes clear that his original trial could have continued without Harlan Braun in the court room.
One can see that false declarations were filed with the court on behalf of Raymond Chan.
Judge Walters accepted without question these declarations which contained preposterous claims about Raymond' Chan and Harlan Braun's enormous investment of time and effort to prepare the defense.
This was done to support a claim that no other attorney could substitute for Braun in the court room, not even with Braun able to consult on a daily basis from outside the court.
Instead of ordering Chan to immedeately begin preparing an alternate attorney for the court room with Braun available to consult - instead, Judge Walters placed the proceedings in limbo for 4 weeks to wait for Braun to recover sufficiently to return to court.
The result was no preparation of a substitute attorney for 4 weeks. Allowing the jury to spoil. Necessitating the mistrial.
Our biggest questions about Braun's representation was if he was responsible for the racially tinged unhinged accusatory communications with the USAs, or if those originated from Ray Chan's attorney son Jeremy, who was supposed to be assisting in the case. Although Jeremy "Jerry" Chan was allegedly his father's partner in the secret consulting business that overlapped with Ray Chan's city employment, he didn't testify, nor did we ever see him in the courtroom. https://twitter.com/esotouric/status/1448838012415131648
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBtOfokWUAESvwb?format=jpg&name=medium
Raymond Chan will remain a free man for the time being.
It doesn't matter if Judge John Walters approves the motion.
If the motion is denied, Judge John Walters has gift-wrapped a cause for appeal of verdict to Raymond Chan.
Maybe Judge Walters could use a few years on The Farm in Lompoc to clear up his mind?
:Look forward to hearing Judge John Walter explain his erstwhile decision making process.
He was informed about the alleged juror comment.
Initially, he decided to do nothing.
Later, his decision changed - so he took a dive into the deep end of his own ethically-confused mind pool.
And thus he contaminated all the waters.
What other choice was there?
Walters should have informed his fellow judges at the courthouse of the potential issue at hand.
Another judge or panel of judges could have been assigned to investigate the matter, interview the parties involved, decide on the appropriate handling.
Now, everything that Walters has produced may be called into question.
Today is the big day - May3, 2024. Scheduled hearing on defendant Chan Motion for Mistrial or Post-Verdict Examination of Jurors.
Looking forward to hearing about the mandatory JUROR adhesive I.D. patch worn by all jurors, which includes the Dept. number of the court room which they are assigned to.
How else would the Deputy who overheard the comment about " quick verdict" be able to identify the group as jurors from the Chan trial and know to report the comment to Judge Walter's court?
Look forward to hearing how Judge John Walter's discovered the jury elected their foreman right after closing arguments and just before dismissal on that day?
Considering that Judge John Walter's eschewed any questioning of the jury post-closing arguments and post-verdict.
No Chan hearing today--Judge Walter rejected the motion for mistrial on April 26 and took it off the calendar. https://substack.com/@esotouric/note/c-54918713
We'd been looking forward to getting a better perspective into what the jury did inside and outside court, too. And in retrospect, we regret leaving after closing arguments and not sticking around for jury instructions and exiting the courthouse when the jury did. But that last day had been exhausting and we didn't suspect what happened next would be so consequential.
Thanks for your perspective on the case. Is there a judge in the Federal courthouse you'd like to see handling public corruption?
So Judge Walter conducted the investigation and made the ruling on the motion.
Did he determine the comment overheard by the CRD was not significant? Or the entire incident may have been fabricated to create a pretext for a mistrial?
The Huizar-Chan allegations contributes to a loss of confidence in the integrity of our L.A. City process.
Judge Walters contributes to a loss of confidence in the integrity of our judicial process.
The judge who should preside over public corruption trials would need to have his own power base and travel with his own small army to survive.
Whether or not one favors Jose Huizar or Raymond Chan or other defendants be found guilty or innocent doesn't remove the red flag waving here.
The rapid-return verdict indicates a jury has not fulfilled its obligation correctly.
That is a huge issue. Judge Walters is not concerned that his juries are malfunctioning.
The colleagues who serve on the bench with Walters should be concerned that his juries are malfunctioning.
The absence of attention or urgency indicates a widespread collapse of confidence in the integrity of our system and a loss of faith that integrity can be restored.
Correction:
the CRD who overheard the statement uttered by one of three Chan trial jurors outside the courthouse does not work in Judge Walters court room. The CRD works in a different court room in the same DTLA Federal Court House as Judge John Walters.
How anyone who willfully participated in the Raymond Chan trial charade can sleep at night is a mystery.
The govt. investigators and U.S. Attorneys and Judge Walters all draw their govt. paychecks in exchange for producing a huge steaming pile of horse manure.
Outrageous. Appalling. Sickening.
This deserves an investigation with the power to suspend Judge John Walter.
Pull the tapes!
Federal Court House DTLA should be running surveillance video covering the entire exterior perimeter of the facility. Pull the tapes and show us three Raymond Chan jurors exiting the building followed by another Raymond Chan juror followed by a Courtroom Deputy from the Chan trial.
Without surveillance video or some other supporting evidence, all we are left with to support a motion for mistrial is Judge John Walter.
All the information from which the defendant will prepare his motion for mistrial issues from the testimony of Judge John Walter. The ruling on the motion will issue from Judge John Walter.
Judge John Walter claims he received the information on the day of jury deliberation and verdict.
Judge John Walter admits he told no one and took no action to speak with any juror before dismissing them from any further duties.
Judge John Walter cites some rule of procedure as preventing him from recalling any juror to verify the incident.
Judge John Walter claims to have interviewed the unnamed CRD to verify the information.
Did Judge John Walter send the jury for 15 minutes of deliberation following closing argument before ending the day? Why would he do that? Did the jury use the 15 minutes to select a foreman before heading out to the parking lot?
Judge John Walter's testimony about the alleged incident conveys a veiled threat to the foreman of the Chan jury.
It could be considered a veiled threat to every person on the Chan jury.
Don't step off the curb or you may get crushed.
Judge Walter doesn't see much here that could support a mistrial.
The prosecutor is not worried about a mistrial..
Walter even dug out a couple of appellate decisions to support the denial of defendant''s motion for a mistrial.
Let's not forget Walter's history of bluffing. Big bluffing.
The safest bet here is a prediction that Judge John Walter will rule in favor of Ray Chan's motion for mistrial.
The Kobe Bryant copter crash photos civil trial provides a solid introduction to Judge John Walters directing style and the cinematic tricks he relies on. Knowing this, the Raymond Chan trial becomes equal parts predictable and appalling.
Judge Walters is a purveyor of bluff and misdirection.
In the preliminary hearings leading up to trial in the Bryant copter crash photo case, Walters informed the parties of a high probability he would split the case into two separate trials with two separate juries. One trial would decide the issues and the second trial would decide the damages.
Walters claimed the high level of complexity involved in the case would necessitate the split.
As the trial drew near, Walter's concern about complexity faded away. The issue was no longer mentioned and the case remained as one trial.
However, Judge Walters decided that two separate lawsuits over the issue - one filed by widow Jessica Bryant and the other filed by widower Chris Chester - would be combined into one trial with the parties acting as co-plaintiffs.
This was the critical decision which facilitated the complimentary co-plaintiff strategy. The strategy that delivered a multi-million$$ jury award to the co-plaintiffs. Following a land speed record deliberation.
Potentially derailed by a cause for a post-verdict mistrial, which was quickly swept under the rug by Walters.
We can only hope the govt. will someday deliver a "trial indictment", in addition to an indictment of Judge John Walter.
We may be surprised, but Judge Walter was not surprised with light-speed rapid jury deliberations.
There is no reason he should be surprised, as the instructions given by the judge to the jury are meant to guide their approach to the deliberations.
Let's give credit where credit is due.
Walters is a master orchestra conductor, tipping the scale of the critical elements at the precise juncture to guide a trial to its desired conclusion.
A review of Judge Walter's performance in another recent high-profile trial(Kobe Bryant copter crash photos) provides compelling evidence that anything which appears unexpected or accidental has only been framed for the audience to view it that way.
One can only speculate that . Walter is selected as director of these big-budget L.A. noir trials because of his record of reliability.
He delivers a quality product for the studio to distribute.
Absolutely nothing is left to chance.