Occupy Arrestee Says City Attorney Carmen Trutanich Is 'Going For The Jugular'

Occupy Arrestee Says City Attorney Carmen Trutanich Is "Going For The Jugular"

By Gene Maddaus Thu., Dec. 22 2011 at 6:28 PM

Carmen Trutanich: Preoccupied

Bethania Palma was one of those arrested on Saturday for "re-occupying" the lawn at L.A. City Hall. She has since pleaded no contest, and been sentenced to 18 months' probation and seven days of Caltrans duty.

Palma, a former reporter at the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, wrote a piece for LAist in which she accused City Attorney Carmen Trutanich of "going for the jugular" with Occupy protesters.

She seems to have a point.

Palma appears to be a perfect candidate for the City Attorney's pre-filing "diversion" program.

The program allows first-time offenders the chance to avoid prosecution by taking a class.

Palma has no criminal record. She was arrested while peacefully protesting the National Defense Authorization Act. Her crime was being on the wrong side of a fence.

Yet Palma was not offered diversion. She was held in jail for two days on $5,000 bail, and then charged with misdemeanor trespassing.

"My guess is they wanted to punish me for doing what I did," Palma said.

Who's teaching who about the First Amendment?

Palma said she pleaded no contest because she wanted to get out of jail. She will soon have to pick up trash on the freeway, and has been ordered to stay away from City Hall for a year and a half.

Frank Mateljan, the city attorney's spokesman, said he did not know why Palma was not offered diversion.

"The defendant certainly had an opportunity to have her day in court, but instead opted to enter a guilty plea to the charges," Mateljan said. "We feel this case has come to a satisfactory conclusion and there is nothing more to comment on at this time."

The diversion program is sort of like traffic school. The City Attorney's office has been offering it since 1995 to those accused of minor offenses such as lewd conduct, petty theft, and minor in possession of alcohol.

Participants must watch a 45-minute DVD that addresses "the harsh realities of incarceration" and "techniques for behavior control." They must also complete a 50-page workbook and 25 multiple choice questions, according to Winter McDaniel, who runs the program for American Justice Associates. Total cost to the participant: $375.

For Occupy L.A. arrestees who are referred to the program, there's one extra hurdle that may make it more trouble than it's worth. They will be given a one-hour lecture on the First Amendment, which is being prepared by Trutanich's office especially for Occupy.

Consider that for a moment. The First Amendment, which secures the citizenry's right to redress its grievances with government, is here being used to redress the government's grievances with its citizens.

If that strikes you as perverse, then you're not alone. And it seems like the Occupy arrestees are not eager to be condescended to. Of those who have been referred for diversion, only a couple have inquired with AJA so far, McDaniel said.

Tags:

Bethania Palma, Carmen Trutanich, First Amendment, Occupy L.A.

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San Pedro resident

The guy is a homo. Really. He likes guy butthole.

Che

This woman is taking the focus off the real issues behind Occupy L.A. and making it about herself. She doesn't seem to be crying about financial inequity, or the foreclosure crisis, she's only crying about her probation and community service. Typical egocentric journalists, using real human suffering and turning it into a story about herself. What a narcicist. Why doesn;'t she hold a bake sale or something and use the funds to pay back the city taxpayers for all the damge she and her cronies cost. Go Trutanich! He seems to allways be the only one who cares how our money is spent.

Maureen

Che's response is typical of the way Trutanich denigrates women who challenge and question him - like he did to the cancer patient, Karen, at the City Hall meeting on medical marijuana. Trutanich screamed in her face "You are wrong!" and told her to feed her children lead toys. That's the kind of disgusting individual Trutanich is, and Che is exactly the kind of disgusting person who admires this thug. Thankfully the world has turned a little since Trutanich lied his way into office with his phony Pledge to Serve, and with a little help from social networking, his millions of dollars won't do him any good at the polls. I did not support what Occupy LA was doing, but like every true American, I did support their right to express themselves. Trutanich comes from a different place in civil rights and tolerance, he belongs in a rogues gallery of dictators and bullies who have had their moment of fame and will be thrown out of office.

tools

Cut his budget. He has too much money and time.

Scribe

Sounds like its the city attorney, Trutanich, who needs a little re-education here, like how about First Amendment Rights 101? That and anger management and he might be able to do his job, instead of costing LA more money with his time wasting clowning.

Sparrow

What?!!! Trutanich is doing his job and upholding the law? How dare he. Doesn't he know L.A. elected officials are always suppose to look the other way and let everyone get away with whatever they want? This dumb former reporter chick is dumbfounded that she's arrested by the Police when she committs a crime and then further flumoxed that she's held in custody until she posts bail, and then some Judge has the audacity to issue a sentence after she pleads no contest to the charges. Maybe she needs to go back to school or watch more Law and Order.

Heywood

Have any of these cry babies seen a TV show called "Baretta"? Sammy Davis Jr used to sing the theme song which had a lyric "Don't do the crime, if you can;'t do the time." Clearly these uneducated morons can't do the time, which consists of what, probation and community service? How would they like if a bunch of us climbed through one of their windows and occupied their living room? I'm sure they wouldn't like it. If they're going to be martyrs, expect to receive some punishment. As far as I;m concerned, Trutanich and the City are too easy on these criminals.

Eb2bexe

David Duke has endorsed this comment.

Susan R.

The Los Angeles Dragnet has a great piece on Trutanich, comparing him to Joe McCarthy. It's called the Trutanich Scandals and they should add this outrage to the long list of things that are disturbingly wrong about LA's City Attorney. While we are all celebrating the demise of dictators like Mubarak, Gadaffy, and Kim Jon Ill, we forget he have our own home grown thug right here. Trutanich needs to go.

Jane Branden

Frankly, given Trutanich's disgusting record when it comes to freedom of speech:)

JennyMarsh

The City of LA has every right to remove the occupiers from their encampment. The LAPD has every right to arrest the occupiers and put them in jail until their court day. But the City Attorney has absolutely no right to force the occupiers into some gulag-like re-education program. They should be given time-served sentences and allowed to move on. If they do it again, then they get arrested again. That's the system. This is America, not Soviet Russia. Trutanich is a wannabe dictator who does not know how to use the power of office as a responsible public servant, instead he behaves like the ignorant thug that he is. He is out of touch with basic civil rights and wants to turn LA into a police state. He is out of touch, out of time, and needs to be out of office.

Don

Is this story about LA or Laos? Is it about a free society or one where a dictator decides what people should be allowed to say or do? This idea of Trutanich, to 're-educate' the occupy people sounds like something straight out of any number of tinpot regimes where civil rights and respect for individual thought are dirty words. Frankly, given Trutanich's disgusting record when it comes to freedom of speech, it is he who should be required to undergo a bit of re-education. Where the hell did he go to law school? Oh, yeah, some fly-by-night unaccredited ambulance chaser mill that no longer exists. I do not agree with the occupy movement, I think they are a bunch of losers, but they have every right to protest peacefully, which it what they did. They paid the price for overstaying their welcome at City Hall by spending several nights in jail. That should be more than enough punishment, but to make them undergo this re-education program is about as un-American an idea as I can think of.