Answer:On Sunday, December 15, civil rights attorney Ron Kaye sent a letter to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva informing him of what Kaye described as “unlawful conduct” on the part of an LA County Sheriff’s sergeant who, among other things, Kaye wrote, violated “federal constitutional law.”
The sergeant whom Kaye named in the letter, which was also sent to the LA County Board of Supervisors, and LA District Attorney, Jackie Lacey, is an LASD homicide investigator named Richard Biddle.
Biddle has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into actions by Scott Budnick, a well-known film producer turned justice advocate, plus two highly-respected defense attorneys, Blair Berk and Michael Cavalluzzi.
According to the LA Times, in a May 8 public report authored by Biddle, the sergeant initiated a criminal investigation alleging that the three variously criminally tampered with a witness’s actions, conspired to obstruct justice, destroyed or concealed evidence, and engaged in various other potentially criminal and unethical actions.
Scott Budnick, election night, 2014, via WLA
Kaye, who is representing Budnick and the attorneys, wrote in his letter to Villanueva that because of his clients’ “successful advocacy” for a young man charged with a serious crime, Biddle “has made numerous false allegations, without any legal basis,” and has “abused the legal process” to obtain a warrant to access Budnick and company’s “confidential documents and private communications” that, according to Kaye, was only one component of Sergeant Biddle’s “campaign of harassment.”
At the letter’s end, Kaye expressed his office’s “sincere hope” that the department Sheriff Villanueva leads will open an Internal Affairs investigation into Sergeant Biddle’s “misconduct,” and will also “restrain” him from continuing to engage in any additional “unconstitutional behavior.”
On the other hand, many of those who’ve known Biddle for years say he’s a straight shooter who cares deeply about every case he approaches.
So what exactly is going on?
