Over at Cobb blog a lifelong Angeleno recounts life as a child in Gates’ Los Angeles, it is worth a read.  There’s also a fantastic piece written by David Cay Johnston who covered Gates for the LA Times during the 1980s.   Both of these are worth a read.

Jerry Brown’s campaign is downright bizarre.  His slogan is “Let’s get California working again.”  But then if you go to his website, there is NO PLAN as to how he’s going to accomplish that.   This is classic Jerry Brown, all sizzle no steak.   The truth of the matter is that he’s is way past his sell-by date and he literally has NO PLAN.  He accomplished nothing as Mayor of Oakland and less than nothing as Attorney General.   He’s the same old egomaniac he’s always been, his bid for the governor’s mansion is nothing more than a grasp at past glory – he’s the political equivalent of Norma Desmond wanting her one last closeup.  We simply can’t imagine voting for him.

Meg Whitman is plain scary.  Her entire goal seems to win, from the $40 million plus she has pledged to her campaign, to her refusal to talk to the media, to her phony “town halls” – where people with opposing viewpoints are escorted out by the police, to her over-the-top negative ads against Steve Poizner, we have no idea what she stands for or who she is.  And no, we’re not impressed by the fact that she ran ebay from 1998 until 2007, come on.  The trick to running eBay from 1998 until 2007 was to stand back and watch the money roll in.  It wasn’t exactly a turnaround story – she was in the right place at the right time. Before ebay she was the CEO for FTD (the florists) and then Hasbro (the children’s toy company).  She has ZERO public service experience and ZERO experience in California politics — which, as we learned from Gov. Schwarzenegger’s tenure is actually important in California.

And that brings us to Poizner — OK we don’t know a lot about him.  But we do know this, he’s got a plan.  Go to his website and see for yourself.  The guy has put some real thought as to how he can right the ship.  It may not be a plan we agree with, but right now – he’s the only one with real ideas.  We are also intrigued by his thoughtful approach to spending cuts.  He also is more than a former CEO, he actually started two wildly successful software companies from scratch and he’s spent the last four years as California’s Insurance Commissioner – a gritty, non-glamorous, out-of-the-spotlight elected office.

The bottom line is this:  Steve Poizner is a nerd.  And right now California does not need a blowhard relic from another era or a showboating corporate executive trying to wow us with her cash flow.  Right now California needs a nerd who will actually do the hard work.  Poizner may just be that nerd.  We’ll see.

Doven claimed he was  allowed to transport the weed under the Medical Marijuana Program Act (known by it’s bill number in the legislature as “SB420″…no, we’re not kidding) and under the 2008 California Attorney General guidelines for medical marijuana collectives.

But these newfangled marijuana laws are not what won the day,  people make the same argument in courts all over the state and routinely lose.  The courts are under no obligation to follow the 2008 guidelines and many judges  are very skilled at finding ways to get around the Medical Marijuana Act.   In fact, Doven did lose at the preliminary hearing in this case.  He only won after filing a motion to dismiss with another judge in the courthouse (called a “995 motion” for those playing along at home).

So how did Doven win?  Good old-fashioned police incompetence.

It seems that the prosecution put up a CHP Sergeant who claimed to be an “expert” in narcotics and marijuana trafficking law.  Turns out this cop was not up to speed on the medical marijuana laws.  Under cross-exam from Doven’s attorney, the Sarge admitted that he  really had no idea what constituted legal possession of marijuana as opposed to illegal possession of marijuana under Califorinia’s medical marijuana laws.   Doven’s attorney then argued that since the cop didn’t know medical marijuana law,  he’s not really an “expert” on marijuana laws and his ” testimony must be disregarded.  Judge Sterling agreed and threw out the possession for sale charge, the DA then had no choice but to  drop the transportation charge and fold.  Once there were no more charges, Doven got his weed back because he was never found guilty of doing anything illegal with it.  The end.

The bottom line is this: If you think that this is some big victory for the marijuana legalization movement, think again.  All that happened here is that the police screwed up, a defense attorney did his job competently, and the judge followed the law.  It’s really no big deal.  And you better believe that the CHP  narcotic and marijuana “experts” are going to be getting some schooling from the DA’s Office about how to beat a medical marijuana defense.  This is not a mistake that the L.A. County CHP will make again.

The bummer for Doven is that the weed was confiscated back in December of 2008 and has likely been sitting in a CHP evidence locker since then..it won’t be the same fresh, green and shiny 60lbs he originally parted with, that’s for sure.

The trial won’t start for months, and there’s a gag order on the case so that means no television and no blow-by-blow accounts of the trial. .  But we can tell you this for sure…once the actual trial starts it’ll be quick.  The case has been assigned to Judge Robert Perry, a veteran and well-known judge on the high-security 9th floor of the Criminal Courts Building in downtown L.A.

Judge Perry famous for famous for lightning fast trials.  Yeah, it’ll take months for this trial to actually start, but once it does, it’ll be over and over quickly.  Judge Perry starts his trials first thing in the morning and runs them until the end of the day.  No long recesses, no hand-wringing over rulings.  Attorneys better be prepared and ready to go first thing every day…or else.   The man is a whip-smart former federal prosecutor who handled the John De Lorean case back in the 20th century and as a judge handles nothing but serious trial matters.

Bottom line:  High-profile trials in L.A. can turn into a circus…which is probably why California Supreme Court Chief Justice George assigned this case to Judge Perry. This ain’t gonna be no circus. This ain’t gonna be televised.  There ain’t gonna be no minute-by-minute updates from the courtroom.  This is going to be a tight-ship of a trial.  And that’s a good thing.

Those who work in the criminal justice system or in the schools have  long been aware of the horror show that is the Los Angeles Unified School District Police force.

High-Five to Max Taves and the L.A. Weekly for some excellent work.  Here’s the article.  It is well worth a read:  LAUSD’S FINEST

We’re putting together or own analysis, but here’s the good  links you could want for now:

Calitics

San Francisco Chronicle

Sac Bee