California Supreme Court

[UPDATE: Dispensary Reopens] Empty Cop Car Shuts Down Sunset Beach Medical-Marijuana Dispensary

*See end of post for an update.Original Post, March 5, 10:46 p.m.: Until last month, there hadn't been any medical-marijuana dispensaries in Sunset Beach since late 2010, when county officials ruled the unincorporated community had to shutter three clubs operating there, just before that city merged ... More >>

Killer of Newport Harbor High Wrestling Star Wants A New Trial

In December 2001, Irvine's Tommy Lee McGuire savagely murdered Matthew Large, a onetime Newport Harbor High School star wrestler turned mixed martial arts competitor, and buried his corpse at Stinky Beach in Humboldt County.Five years later, an Orange County jury agreed with homicide prosecutor Matt ... More >>

Pedophile California Highway Patrol Cop Loses Federal Appeal

Stephen Robert Deck, an Orange County-based lieutenant in the California Highway Patrol, desperately craved illegal sex with underage girls and took numerous steps to achieve his fantasies.But Deck ended up nabbed in a 2006 Perverted Justice sting orchestrated with undercover officers at the La ... More >>

More OC Pedophile Priest Personnel Files to Be Released, This Time by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court ordered that the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles comply with a settlement and release the secret personnel files of 25 pedo-priests within its ranks. So why should we care in Orange County about what happens in that Sodom? Because three of the priests serv ... More >>

[UPDATED W/STATEMENT BY VICTIM'S MOTHER] Emmanuel Walker, Long Beach Police Snitch, Sentenced To Life In Prison

*See bottom of this post for a statement by Kathy Windom, mother of victim Stephen Brown, which she read during Walker's sentencing hearing.ORIGINAL POST, Sept. 18, 2:22 p.m.: Sixteen months after he allegedly murdered 32-year-old Long Beach resident Steven Brown, Emmanuel Walker was sentenced ... More >>

Appeals Court Upholds While It Scales Back Damages in Case of Pooch Hit with Baseball Bat

In what's hailed/damned as a first-ever ruling in California, the state's Fourth District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana recently ruled a Laguna Niguel man who struck a neighbor's miniature Pinscher with a baseball bat must pay the dog's owners for emotional distress. But the ruling filed Friday repre ... More >>

Orange County Great Park Gets a $1.4 Billion Puncture in its Balloon

A court in Sacramento today denied the city of Irvine's temporary restraining order request that would prevent the state of California from seizing Orange County Great Park funds. It's part of the city's lawsuit against the state Department of Finance, which has ruled the Great Park is not entitled ... More >>

Rodney Alcala Can't Block New York Extradition

The California Supreme Court Wednesday denied serial killer Rodney Alcala's request to block his extradition to New York, where he is accused of murdering two young women in the 1970s.Prosecutors in New York City filed extradition papers after Alcala, who is sitting on California's death row, was co ... More >>

California Supreme Court Okays Death Penalty for OC Serial Bandit

​What kind of Uzi-toting scumbag robs a Hallmark store? Southern California banks? Restaurants? Florists? Pet grooming shops? Nail salons? Pharmacies? And grocery stores? Glad you asked because I have the answer: career criminal John Clyde Abel. But, barring saving action by the U.S. Supreme C ... More >>

Garden Grove Suspends Registration of Marijuana Dispensaries

Bruce Broadwater​With the city of Anaheim reportedly cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries, neighboring Garden Grove, which has a ban on pot clubs but last year allowed ones already operating as of June 30, now enjoys the dubious distinction of being Orange County's pot capital. Don't te ... More >>

Long Beach Pot Ban Narrowly Avoided, Vote Delayed to Jan. 10.

​At about 10:15 p.m. last night, after more than five hours of tedious proceedings, the Long Beach City Council deadlocked on a motion to ban medical marijuana collectives in the city, a measure strongly backed by both the city attorney and police department. The vote, with four members in favor o ... More >>

Plastic Bag Ban Begins At Some Long Beach Retailers on Aug. 1

​Come Aug. 1, Long Beach shoppers have to bring their own bags to the store or shell out money for paper ones. Remember back in December when Vickie Chang wondered out loud on Navel Gazing whether Long Beach would be the next in a slew of cities, like San Francisco and Washington D.C., t ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: William E. Fanning, Brea Schools Pioneer, Namesake of Fanning Elementary

​The legacy of school segregation in Orange County really needs no introduction 'round these parts. But what still needs to get examined is the political allegiances of the architects of such policies--beyond the mere racism that existed in Orange County before the 1950s, and toward the Coast to C ... More >>

[BREAKING:] State Supreme Court Affirms Death Penalty for John Famalaro, Killer of 23-year-old Woman Kept in Cold Storage

​The California Supreme Court has confirmed the death penalty for John Famalaro, the phony cop convicted of killing Denise Huber, who disappeared on her way home to Newport Beach from a Morrissey concert in 1991, and keeping the 23-year-old's body in cold storage until it was discovered in Arizona ... More >>

[UPDATED: Court Denies Rehearing] Court Critical of Sale Process, Denies FMW's Fairgrounds Bid--Sale Halted

Chasen Marshall/OC Weekly​UPDATE, JULY 7, 1:06 P.M.: For a second time, Facilities Management West's hope to purchase the Orange County Fairgrounds has been shot down. On Tuesday, the 4th District Court of Appeal denied its request to reconsider last months decision to halt the sale. The appe ... More >>

Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Charles McClure, Brea's First Police Chief

​Anaheim's Klan was more obsessed with temperance than minorities; Fullerton's Klukkers were mostly obsessed with booting out Mexicans from the city limits. But for a bit of the old Klan, the guys who hated blacks and wanted nothing to do with them, you'd have to travel up to Brea, the county's on ... More >>

California's 5 Worst Ballot Initiatives

​Happy Election Day! Could you even sleep last night? Do you view your local polling place like a 5-year-old views a Christmas tree on Christmas morning? Can you not wait one more minute to vote the bastards out?Well, before you go get your teabag on, take a gander at bad initiatives that have gon ... More >>

Prop 8 is Illegal Because All California Ballot Propositions are Illegal: Appellate Lawyer

​An appellate lawyer has filed a brief before the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco that argues same-sex-marriage banning Prop 8 should be struck down because all ballot propositions are illegal.As Arthur Kirkland (Al Pacino) put it in ... And Justice for All, "You're out of order! You're out of or ... More >>

Fees Charged Students in Tustin and Long Beach Cited in ACLU Lawsuit Against State

​Fees charged to public school students in Tustin and Long Beach are part of the evidence the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is citing in a class action lawsuit filed today against the state of California and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.The suit contends the state is violating the Californ ... More >>

Supreme Court Doesn't Help Orly Taitz; 12-Year-Old Does

Christopher Victorio / OC Weekly​On July 8, Laguna Niguel's Dr. Orly Taitz filed an application with the Supreme Court of the United States in a (maybe) last-ditch attempt to avoid paying the $20,000 in fines levied on her by a federal judge last year. On Thursday, though, Justice Clarence Th ... More >>

OC's Judicial Vaudeville Act Wins Recognition Again

Judicial Vaudeville ​Orange County has employed notorious judges but none have been more arrogant than Robert Fitzgerald. Over past decades Fitzgerald has used his courtroom for an one-man show where he simultaneously plays defense lawyer, prosecutor, jury and judge. We recently learned that he's ... More >>

AG Appeals OC Wife Killer Case to Supreme Court

Marvin V. Smith​The California Attorney General has decided to appeal a Court of Appeal ruling that overturned the first degree murder conviction of Marvin Vernis Smith, a wealthy liquor store owner who police say murdered his wife with a fire place poker and then staged the crime scene to look li ... More >>

Dana Point's Legal Ping-Pong Match Over Cannabis Collectives is in Full Swing

SafeHarborCollective.comDana Point Safe Harbor Collective looks safe from here.​Sheriff's deputies served search warrants at a Dana Point medical marijuana dispensary and four homes in San Clemente associated with the business.

Nude Beach Poll, Red Light Camera Decision Go Surf City Attorney's Way

Photo by Tim MelideoAttorney Allen Baylis lets it all hang out.​It's been a good week for Huntington Beach attorney Allen Baylis.

Judge to Costa Mesa White Supremacist: "You Shall Suffer the Death Penalty"

Serial killer before he inked two Nazi SS tats over his throat​It took almost 12 minutes for Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel to summarize Billy Joe Johnson's extensive rap sheet and mention a few mitigating factors before finding that the Costa Mesa-bred white supremacist gangster's 30-year sp ... More >>

CA Supreme Court To Business: Comply With ADA Or Expect Huge Penalties

Angelucci and Gunther: Anti-Discrimination Heroes?On Friday, the California Supreme Court overturned a Santa Ana-based Court of Appeal decision that required plaintiffs in Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-type cases to prove that businesses purposely violated the law by not making their facilit ... More >>

Chapman Law Dean Shifts From One Controversy to Another

Photo by Christopher VictorioJohn C. Eastman (right) listens as John Yoo debates at Chapman last month.The last time you read a Navel Gazing post that mentioned John C. Eastman, dean of Chapman University's School of Law, it was in reference to him teaming with the university's visiting law professo ... More >>

Iowa Gay Marriage Ruling Means Everything or Nothing

The Iowa Supreme Court's overturning of the law banning same-sex marriage in that state either bolsters the arguments of those pushing for gay marriage in California or has nothing to do with the issue here. It depends on who you ask.National Center for Lesbian Rights legal director Shannon Minter:" ... More >>

Chapman Law School Dean Needs to Read Navel Gazing!

EastmanI appeared on KOCE-TV Channel 50's Inside OC with Rick Reiff a couple of weeks ago to debate Chapman Law School Dean John Eastman on Proposition 8 and other topics on which we mostly agreed. Eastman is one of the legal minds behind the Yes on 8 arguments that will be argued tomorrow before th ... More >>

Prop. 8 Backers to Local, State Politicos: Butt Out and Get Back to Work!

Local and statewide proponents of Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban approved by voters last November, have a message for local and statewide politicians: stop trying to overturn the election results and get back to work fixing your cities and/or California.State senators and Assembly members ... More >>

Gay Marriage Rally in Front of OC Church Has a Twist This Time

Ho-hum, supporters of marriage equality are planning a big rally outside yet another Orange County church. Tell it to Rick Warren. Or Ted Haggard. Or Mormony McMormon. Maybe they'll get all fired up by signs stating, "No on Hate--No on Prop 8," "I Want to See My Daddies MARRIED!" and "Jesu ... More >>

Rick Warren Offers to Save Homo-Hating St. James Anglican Church, But Where's Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr?

Rick Warren has finally crossed the Rubicon of homo-hating with his invitation to St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach to set up camp at Saddleback Church because the California State Supreme Court recently ruled they can't stay on their Balboa Peninsula property. A quick primer: St. James spl ... More >>

Police Chief Operates Surf City's Only Medical Marijuana Dispensary

Cops around here have developed a nasty habit: bogarting joints. That is, they illegally confiscate medical marijuana, get dragged into court for violating state law, lollygag in chambers for years, and have the local verdict kicked up to appellate court, where they ultimately lose and have to give ... More >>

Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau Goes Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay, GAY!

Hello, young gay lovers, wherever you are. If you are heading toward the altar, the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau wants you! That is, they want you to get married in fabulous, homo-hatin', Laguna Beach-acceptin', Belmont Shores nearin', closeted-gay legislatin' Orange County. It ... More >>

OC Hate Crime Killer Headed For Lethal Injection

This morning, the California Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death-penalty sentence for Dallas Cowboys' fanatic Gunner Jay Lindberg, who celebrated what he saw as a 1996 Super Bowl victory by "America's team" with the savage ambush murder of a Vietnamese American he called "a Jap." In a 6 ... More >>

Citizen of the Week!

As a teenager in Los Angeles using the name "DJ Tran," Daniel James Bell twice lured unsuspecting Southern California Asian women to fake modeling jobs and threatened them with weapons before robbing and sexually assaulting them. With that in mind, it might be difficult to believe Bell's latest t ... More >>

OC Fundie Funder Gives Money to Wacky Reeps, Homo-Haters--And Lou Correa?!

The most influential Orange County man you've never heard of is undoubtedly Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr., heir to the Home Savings (remember that bank?) fortune. He rarely makes public appearances due to suffering from Tourette's Syndrome, but that hasn't stopped him from giving millions of dollars away ... More >>

California High Court Okays Prosecutor-Movie Director Deal

California's Supreme Court yesterday reversed a lower court's finding that a Santa Barbara County prosecutor should have been disqualified in the sensational Jesse James Hollywood (pictured, upper left) murder trial after forming a partnership with a movie director. Veteran deputy district attorne ... More >>

Register Bootlicker Returns for Special Easter Sermon!

Holding a gun with both hands sent sensations racing down his spine to a semi-firm point between his legs. Gordon Dillow wanted to moan—purr, really—like he did in the privacy of his home. But he’d been warned twice before about fondling weapons inside Orange County Register headquarters. Ther ... More >>

Flea Market Fantasy

When Madmen Attack

Costa Mesa Cadillac-driving kid killer raises safety questions

Chronic Mess

The New New World Order

Legal demonstrators, the Idiot Party and Arthur Carmona

January-March