Stephen Yagman
Encyclopedia
Stephen Yagman, is a federal
civil rights
lawyer
.
Over his legal career, Stephen Yagman developed a reputation for being a civil rights advocate, a crusader against police brutality, and a "pugnacious civil rights lawyer." In County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said, "[C]ounsel, Stephen Yagman, has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff's advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent." Yagman relentlessly pursued civil rights cases against police, made his name suing the LAPD, and launched national reform of discipline of federal judges. The United States Judicial Conference cited Yagman in adopting its 2008 nationawide procedures for handling complaints of misconduct against federal judges.
In his 2011 book, "Lawyers on Trial," UCLA School of Law Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Abel listed Yagman in the chapter "Championing the 'Defenseless' and 'Oppressed,'" rated him a "highly competent, dedicated lawyer[] [who is a c]hampion[] of unpopular causes," and likened him to Clarence Darrow and William M. Kuntsler.
In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar. As Supreme Court Justice [Louis D.] Brandeis noted, '[t]he great opportunity of the American bar is and will be to stand . . . to protect the interests of the people.'" U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark (1966–69) seconded Judge Reinhardt's accolade: "Only the valiant have dared to sue the police for lawless violence and excessive force against the people. Foremost among the valiant is Stephen Yagman, who has bearded the lion in his den time and time again." University of California Irvine Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky held Yagman to be "a very important civil rights lawyer for a long period of time," said Yagman was "particularly important to bringing challenges to police abuse," and "helped to develop the law in this area in a very positive way and represented a lot of people who needed counsel." In 1994, Yagman prevented the implementation of the anti-immigrant, California Proposition 187, by obtaining a preliminary injunction barring public schools from excluding undocumented students, and then converting the preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction, after the Proposition was declared unconstitutional.
On November 22, 2010, Yagman was disbarred, based on June 22, 2007 federal convictions for one count each of tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud, and 11 counts of money laundering. Yagman contended that the IRS selectively and vindictively prosecuted him, ignoring the difference between tax avoidance, that is legal, and tax evasion, that is not, because, as Idaho Special Prosecutor (1997–2001), he prosecuted homicide charges against FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi for allegedly murdering Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992 and because on January 19, 2002 he brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee case and won it on December 18, 2003. At his November 27, 2007 sentencing, U.S. Dist. Judge Stephen V. Wilson said of Yagman: "he has entered a field of law that's difficult. He is always the underdog, and he is facing the establishment at its fiercest. So anyone who gets into that arena is brave and has a mission. He tried cases in my court . . . very competently." The convictions are the subject of a pending request that they be vacated on the ground they were a legal impossibility.
in Brooklyn. He received a B.A. in American History, with minors in philosophy and political science. He then received an M.A. in philosophy from New York University
, where he studied under former Trotskyite Sidney Hook, who supervised his master’s thesis on the self-incrimination clause of the Fifth Amendment. Hook encouraged Yagman to drop out of the Ph.D. program and begin law school. Yagman then attended Fordham University
School of Law from which he received a J.D. degree in 1974.
During graduate school and law school, both of which he attended in the evenings, Yagman taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant from 1967 to 1974. In 1967, Yagman married Marion R. Yagman (from whom he was divorced in 1994) with whom he continues to practice law, along with his other partner, retired United States Magistrate Judge (1980–96) Joseph Reichmann.
. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, Black Panther attorney Charles Garry, and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. His first job after graduation was as a New York State Special Assistant Attorney General assigned as an Assistant Special Prosecutor to the Manhattan office of the Office of Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, run by now Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes
. He then began private practice in Los Angeles and since then has specialized in police misconduct, civil rights in federal courts, and has tried to verdict more than 200 federal police misconduct cases and has argued over 150 federal appeals.
After the February 28, 1997 North Hollywood shootout
, Yagman represented, pro bono, the orphaned minor children of Emil Matasareanu, Jr., one of the robbers who was killed in the incident. In the federal civil rights action filed against the LAPD and its officers, it was alleged that the officers intentionally kept on-scene paramedics away fromm Matasareanu so that he would bleed to death and die on the street, instead of providing him with necessary medical attention that could have saved his life. The jury hung 9-3 in favor of the Matasareanu family, a mistrial was declared, and the case never was retried.
On November 12, 1997, Yagman was sworn in by U.S. Dist. Judge Robert M. Takasugi as Special Prosecutor for the State of Idaho to prosecute FBI sniper Lon T. Horiuchi
in the August 22, 1992 Ruby Ridge
killing of Vicki Weaver and served in that position pro bono until 2001, when he won a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declaring that federal law enforcement agents did not enjoy sovereign immunity and could be prosecuted criminally for state law homicide. Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001)(en banc). In January, 2002, Yagman brought, pro bono, the first case seeking habeas corpus
relief for Guantanamo Bay detainees, and in December, 2003, won the first case in which it was declared that Guantanamo detainees were entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in United States courts. Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004).
In 2003 and 2006, Yagman, pro bono, defended in two, three-month-long trials Amy Prien, who was charged with murder in the death of her three-month-old son. It was alleged that Prien breast fed her infant son methamphetaimine-laced breast milk. The first trial was lost and Prien was sentenced to life in prison. After a successful appeal, in the second trial the jury hung 9-3 in favor of acquittal, and the district attorney declined to proceed to a third trial, thus saving Prien from serving life in prison.
Stephen Yagman, (born December 19, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York) is a federal
civil rights
lawyer
.
Over his legal career, Stephen Yagman developed a reputation for being a civil rights advocate, a crusader against police brutality, and a "pugnacious civil rights lawyer." In County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said, "[C]ounsel, Stephen Yagman, has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff's advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent." Yagman relentlessly pursued civil rights cases against police, made his name suing the LAPD, and launched national reform of discipline of federal judges. The United States Judicial Conference cited Yagman in adopting its 2008 nationawide procedures for handling complaints of misconduct against federal judges.
In his 2011 book, "Lawyers on Trial," UCLA School of Law Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Abel listed Yagman in the chapter "Championing the 'Defenseless' and 'Oppressed,'" rated him a "highly competent, dedicated lawyer[] [who is a c]hampion[] of unpopular causes," and likened him to Clarence Darrow and William M. Kuntsler.
In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar. As Supreme Court Justice [Louis D.] Brandeis noted, '[t]he great opportunity of the American bar is and will be to stand . . . to protect the interests of the people.'" U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark (1966–69) seconded Judge Reinhardt's accolade: "Only the valiant have dared to sue the police for lawless violence and excessive force against the people. Foremost among the valiant is Stephen Yagman, who has bearded the lion in his den time and time again." University of California Irvine Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky held Yagman to be "a very important civil rights lawyer for a long period of time," said Yagman was "particularly important to bringing challenges to police abuse," and "helped to develop the law in this area in a very positive way and represented a lot of people who needed counsel." In 1994, Yagman prevented the implementation of the anti-immigrant, California Proposition 187, by obtaining a preliminary injunction barring public schools from excluding undocumented students, and then converting the preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction, after the Proposition was declared unconstitutional.
On November 22, 2010, Yagman was disbarred, based on June 22, 2007 federal convictions for one count each of tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud, and 11 counts of money laundering. Yagman contended that the IRS selectively and vindictively prosecuted him, ignoring the difference between tax avoidance, that is legal, and tax evasion, that is not, because, as Idaho Special Prosecutor (1997–2001), he prosecuted homicide charges against FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi for allegedly murdering Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992 and because on January 19, 2002 he brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee case and won it on December 18, 2003. At his November 27, 2007 sentencing, U.S. Dist. Judge Stephen V. Wilson said of Yagman: "he has entered a field of law that's difficult. He is always the underdog, and he is facing the establishment at its fiercest. So anyone who gets into that arena is brave and has a mission. He tried cases in my court . . . very competently." The convictions are the subject of a pending request that they be vacated on the ground they were a legal impossibility.
in Brooklyn. He received a B.A. in American History, with minors in philosophy and political science. He then received an M.A. in philosophy from New York University
, where he studied under former Trotskyite Sidney Hook, who supervised his master’s thesis on the self-incrimination clause of the Fifth Amendment. Hook encouraged Yagman to drop out of the Ph.D. program and begin law school. Yagman then attended Fordham University
School of Law from which he received a J.D. degree in 1974.
During graduate school and law school, both of which he attended in the evenings, Yagman taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant from 1967 to 1974. In 1967, Yagman married Marion R. Yagman (from whom he was divorced in 1994) with whom he continues to practice law, along with his other partner, retired United States Magistrate Judge (1980–96) Joseph Reichmann.
. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, Black Panther attorney Charles Garry, and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. His first job after graduation was as a New York State Special Assistant Attorney General assigned as an Assistant Special Prosecutor to the Manhattan office of the Office of Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, run by now Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes
. He then began private practice in Los Angeles and since then has specialized in police misconduct, civil rights in federal courts, and has tried to verdict more than 200 federal police misconduct cases and has argued over 150 federal appeals.
After the February 28, 1997 North Hollywood shootout
, Yagman represented, pro bono, the orphaned minor children of Emil Matasareanu, Jr., one of the robbers who was killed in the incident. In the federal civil rights action filed against the LAPD and its officers, it was alleged that the officers intentionally kept on-scene paramedics away fromm Matasareanu so that he would bleed to death and die on the street, instead of providing him with necessary medical attention that could have saved his life. The jury hung 9-3 in favor of the Matasareanu family, a mistrial was declared, and the case never was retried.
On November 12, 1997, Yagman was sworn in by U.S. Dist. Judge Robert M. Takasugi as Special Prosecutor for the State of Idaho to prosecute FBI sniper Lon T. Horiuchi
in the August 22, 1992 Ruby Ridge
killing of Vicki Weaver and served in that position pro bono until 2001, when he won a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declaring that federal law enforcement agents did not enjoy sovereign immunity and could be prosecuted criminally for state law homicide. Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001)(en banc). In January, 2002, Yagman brought, pro bono, the first case seeking habeas corpus
relief for Guantanamo Bay detainees, and in December, 2003, won the first case in which it was declared that Guantanamo detainees were entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in United States courts. Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004).
In 2003 and 2006, Yagman, pro bono, defended in two, three-month-long trials Amy Prien, who was charged with murder in the death of her three-month-old son. It was alleged that Prien breast fed her infant son methamphetaimine-laced breast milk. The first trial was lost and Prien was sentenced to life in prison. After a successful appeal, in the second trial the jury hung 9-3 in favor of acquittal, and the district attorney declined to proceed to a third trial, thus saving Prien from serving life in prison.
Stephen Yagman, (born December 19, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York) is a federal
civil rights
lawyer
.
Over his legal career, Stephen Yagman developed a reputation for being a civil rights advocate, a crusader against police brutality, and a "pugnacious civil rights lawyer." In County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said, "[C]ounsel, Stephen Yagman, has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff's advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent." Yagman relentlessly pursued civil rights cases against police, made his name suing the LAPD, and launched national reform of discipline of federal judges. The United States Judicial Conference cited Yagman in adopting its 2008 nationawide procedures for handling complaints of misconduct against federal judges.
In his 2011 book, "Lawyers on Trial," UCLA School of Law Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Abel listed Yagman in the chapter "Championing the 'Defenseless' and 'Oppressed,'" rated him a "highly competent, dedicated lawyer[] [who is a c]hampion[] of unpopular causes," and likened him to Clarence Darrow and William M. Kuntsler.
In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar. As Supreme Court Justice [Louis D.] Brandeis noted, '[t]he great opportunity of the American bar is and will be to stand . . . to protect the interests of the people.'" U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark (1966–69) seconded Judge Reinhardt's accolade: "Only the valiant have dared to sue the police for lawless violence and excessive force against the people. Foremost among the valiant is Stephen Yagman, who has bearded the lion in his den time and time again." University of California Irvine Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky held Yagman to be "a very important civil rights lawyer for a long period of time," said Yagman was "particularly important to bringing challenges to police abuse," and "helped to develop the law in this area in a very positive way and represented a lot of people who needed counsel." In 1994, Yagman prevented the implementation of the anti-immigrant, California Proposition 187, by obtaining a preliminary injunction barring public schools from excluding undocumented students, and then converting the preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction, after the Proposition was declared unconstitutional.
On November 22, 2010, Yagman was disbarred, based on June 22, 2007 federal convictions for one count each of tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud, and 11 counts of money laundering. Yagman contended that the IRS selectively and vindictively prosecuted him, ignoring the difference between tax avoidance, that is legal, and tax evasion, that is not, because, as Idaho Special Prosecutor (1997–2001), he prosecuted homicide charges against FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi for allegedly murdering Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992 and because on January 19, 2002 he brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee case and won it on December 18, 2003. At his November 27, 2007 sentencing, U.S. Dist. Judge Stephen V. Wilson said of Yagman: "he has entered a field of law that's difficult. He is always the underdog, and he is facing the establishment at its fiercest. So anyone who gets into that arena is brave and has a mission. He tried cases in my court . . . very competently." The convictions are the subject of a pending request that they be vacated on the ground they were a legal impossibility.
in Brooklyn. He received a B.A. in American History, with minors in philosophy and political science. He then received an M.A. in philosophy from New York University
, where he studied under former Trotskyite Sidney Hook, who supervised his master’s thesis on the self-incrimination clause of the Fifth Amendment. Hook encouraged Yagman to drop out of the Ph.D. program and begin law school. Yagman then attended Fordham University
School of Law from which he received a J.D. degree in 1974.
During graduate school and law school, both of which he attended in the evenings, Yagman taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant from 1967 to 1974. In 1967, Yagman married Marion R. Yagman (from whom he was divorced in 1994) with whom he continues to practice law, along with his other partner, retired United States Magistrate Judge (1980–96) Joseph Reichmann.
. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, Black Panther attorney Charles Garry, and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. His first job after graduation was as a New York State Special Assistant Attorney General assigned as an Assistant Special Prosecutor to the Manhattan office of the Office of Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, run by now Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes
. He then began private practice in Los Angeles and since then has specialized in police misconduct, civil rights in federal courts, and has tried to verdict more than 200 federal police misconduct cases and has argued over 150 federal appeals.
After the February 28, 1997 North Hollywood shootout
, Yagman represented, pro bono, the orphaned minor children of Emil Matasareanu, Jr., one of the robbers who was killed in the incident. In the federal civil rights action filed against the LAPD and its officers, it was alleged that the officers intentionally kept on-scene paramedics away fromm Matasareanu so that he would bleed to death and die on the street, instead of providing him with necessary medical attention that could have saved his life. The jury hung 9-3 in favor of the Matasareanu family, a mistrial was declared, and the case never was retried.
On November 12, 1997, Yagman was sworn in by U.S. Dist. Judge Robert M. Takasugi as Special Prosecutor for the State of Idaho to prosecute FBI sniper Lon T. Horiuchi
in the August 22, 1992 Ruby Ridge
killing of Vicki Weaver and served in that position pro bono until 2001, when he won a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declaring that federal law enforcement agents did not enjoy sovereign immunity and could be prosecuted criminally for state law homicide. Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001)(en banc). In January, 2002, Yagman brought, pro bono, the first case seeking habeas corpus
relief for Guantanamo Bay detainees, and in December, 2003, won the first case in which it was declared that Guantanamo detainees were entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in United States courts. Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004).
In 2003 and 2006, Yagman, pro bono, defended in two, three-month-long trials Amy Prien, who was charged with murder in the death of her three-month-old son. It was alleged that Prien breast fed her infant son methamphetaimine-laced breast milk. The first trial was lost and Prien was sentenced to life in prison. After a successful appeal, in the second trial the jury hung 9-3 in favor of acquittal, and the district attorney declined to proceed to a third trial, thus saving Prien from serving life in prison.
Yagman has prosecuted many cases, such as:
Armster v. City of Riverside, 611 F.Supp. 103 (C.D. Cal. 1985)(police who stand by and observe other police commit civil rights violations may be held liable for failing to prevent the violations);
Armster v. United States District Court, 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986)(wholesale suspension of civil jury trials in federal courts based on budget shortfall violates Seventh Amendment to U.S. Constitution);
Cabrales v. County of Los Angeles, 864 F.2d 1454 (9th Cir. 1988)(first case in which Los Angeles County jail system held liable for inmate suicide);
Children Who Want an Education v. Wilson, 908 F.Supp. 755 (C.D. Cal. 1995)(California’s anti-immigrant Proposition 187 declared unconstitutional and enjoined);
Crumpton v. Gates, 947 F.2d 1418 (9th Cir. 1991)(an in utero fetus may sue police for killing his father once he is born);
Cunningham v. Gates, 229 F.3d 1271 (9th Cir. 2000)(elected government officials may be held liable personally for indemnifying police guilty of civil rights violations for punitive damages levied against them by juries);
Dang v. Cross, 422 F.3d 800 (9th Cir. 2005)(redefines basis for punitive damages against police to include infliction of oppressive conduct);
Diaz v. Gates, 420 F.3d 897 (9th Cir. 2005)(per curiam)(en banc)(establishing principle that police may be sued under federal racketeering statute for injuring one in her employment), cert. denied sub nom. Parks v. Diaz, 126 S.Ct. 1069 (2006);
Erickson v. Knapp, 938 F.Supp. 581 (C.D. Cal. 1996)(police may not seize news photographer’s camera without probable cause);
County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000)(defense attempt to disqualify Yagman denied: Chief Judge Alex Kozinski stating: “Stephen Yagman[] has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff’s advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent.”);
Fowler v. Block, 2 F.Supp. 2d 1268 (C.D. Cal. 1998)(holding it unconstitutional for sheriff to continue to hold in custody person ordered by court to be released, in order to check for outstanding warrants);
Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004)(first case to hold that Guantanamo Bay detainees entitled to petition federal courts for habeas corpus);
Green v. Baca, 225 F.R.D. 612 (C.D. Cal. 2005)(imposing $54,375 sanction on police defense counsel for concealing 11,704 pages of reports from plaintiff);
Guerrero v. Gates, 442 F.3d 697 (9th Cir. 2006)(plaintiffs’ excessive force claims are not barred by prior conviction arising from same events; loss of employment sufficient to state an injury to business under racketeering laws);
Hammer v. Gross, 932 F.2d 842 (9th Cir. 1991)(en banc)(forced blood tests may not be administered to drunk driving suspects);
Hart v. Gaioni, 354 F.Supp. 2d 1127 (C.D. Cal. 2005)(establishing right to sue in federal court for denial of right to access to sue in federal court by interfering with a plaintiff’s right to counsel);
Hawkins v. Comparet-Cassani, 33 F.Supp. 2d 1244 (C.D. Cal. 1998)(holding unconstitutional use of 50,000-volt stun belt on prisoner who was before the court);
Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001)(en banc)(establishing right of states to prosecute criminally for homicide federal officials);
In re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct (Judge Manuel L. Real), 425 F.3d 1179 (9th Cir. 2005)(finding judicial misconduct because of judge taking action on improper communication from a party);
Johnson v. Campbell, 92 F.3d 951 (9th Cir. 1996)(jurors may not be challenged because they are gay);
Larez v. Gates, 946 F.2d 630 (9th Cir. 1991)(setting forth seminal standards for suing government based on having a custom of police misconduct);
Milstein v. Cooley, 208 F.Supp. 2d 1116 (C.D. Cal. 2002)(there is a clearly established due process right not to be prosecuted based on fabricated evidence);
Moreno v. Baca, 431 F.3d 633 (9th Cir. 2005)(suspicion-less arrest and search may not be retroactively justified by police subsequent to discovery that person arrested is on parole or subject to an outstanding arrest warrant);
Motley v. Parks, 432 F.3d 1072 (9th Cir. 2005)(en banc)(parole search must be preceded by probable cause; unreasonable to point a gun at a baby while searching);
Standing Committee on Discipline v. Yagman, 55 F.3d 1430 (9th Cir. 1995)(lawyer has right of freedom of speech to criticize federal judge and may not be disciplined for doing so, creating the so-called “Yagman Rule”);
Thomas v. Baca, 231 F.R.D. 397 (C.D. Cal. 2005)(granting class action to over 500,000 Los Angeles County jail inmates who were forced to sleep on the floors without bunks);
Thomas v. Baca, 514 F.Supp. 2d 1201 (C.D. Cal. 2007)(holding unconstitutional forcing jail inmates to sleep on floors without bunks);
Vanke v. Block, 98-04111-DDP (C.D. Cal. 11-07-98)(granting class action to 22,000 Los Angeles County jail inmates, and issuing preliminary injunction that prohibited sheriff from refusing timely to release inmates who had been ordered to be released, but whom sheriff continued to detain to search for outstanding warrants).
2002, California Lawyer Magazine, CLAY Award, Yagman chosen as one of California’s top 25 lawyers for “cutting edge work that helps the state maintain its reputation as a [legal] trendsetter, that shaped the law, the profession, and the way the law affects industry and the public, and who left a lasting impact on the way those who follow them will practice.”
2000, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Yagman chosen as one of “Top 100 Most Influential California Lawyers.”
1999, Los Angeles Times, Yagman chosen as one of “Top 103 Most Influential People” in Los Angeles.
1996, People’s College of Law Clarence Darrow Award: “for renowned progressive legal advocacy, commitment to pro bono work, and tireless involvement in diverse political and human rights efforts at local, national, and international levels. Throughout the 1970’s, 1980’s, and 1990’s, Yagman has been engaged in progressive legal advocacy and has established legal precedent that has secured benefits to us all. The legal community across the nation can be grateful for the dedication and hard work that has been the hallmark of Stephen Yagman’s practice.”
1993, Los Angeles Criminal Courts Bar Ass’n, President’s Award, “In recognition of [Yagman’s] zealous and dedicated advocacy and protection of his clients’ rights he has battled courageously against abuse of governmental power at the risk of great personal sacrifice and loss.”
1974, Guild of Catholic Lawyers, Jurisprudence Award.
Federal government of the United States
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civil rights
Civil rights
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Lawyer
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.
Over his legal career, Stephen Yagman developed a reputation for being a civil rights advocate, a crusader against police brutality, and a "pugnacious civil rights lawyer." In County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said, "[C]ounsel, Stephen Yagman, has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff's advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent." Yagman relentlessly pursued civil rights cases against police, made his name suing the LAPD, and launched national reform of discipline of federal judges. The United States Judicial Conference cited Yagman in adopting its 2008 nationawide procedures for handling complaints of misconduct against federal judges.
In his 2011 book, "Lawyers on Trial," UCLA School of Law Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Abel listed Yagman in the chapter "Championing the 'Defenseless' and 'Oppressed,'" rated him a "highly competent, dedicated lawyer[] [who is a c]hampion[] of unpopular causes," and likened him to Clarence Darrow and William M. Kuntsler.
In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar. As Supreme Court Justice [Louis D.] Brandeis noted, '[t]he great opportunity of the American bar is and will be to stand . . . to protect the interests of the people.'" U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark (1966–69) seconded Judge Reinhardt's accolade: "Only the valiant have dared to sue the police for lawless violence and excessive force against the people. Foremost among the valiant is Stephen Yagman, who has bearded the lion in his den time and time again." University of California Irvine Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky held Yagman to be "a very important civil rights lawyer for a long period of time," said Yagman was "particularly important to bringing challenges to police abuse," and "helped to develop the law in this area in a very positive way and represented a lot of people who needed counsel." In 1994, Yagman prevented the implementation of the anti-immigrant, California Proposition 187, by obtaining a preliminary injunction barring public schools from excluding undocumented students, and then converting the preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction, after the Proposition was declared unconstitutional.
On November 22, 2010, Yagman was disbarred, based on June 22, 2007 federal convictions for one count each of tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud, and 11 counts of money laundering. Yagman contended that the IRS selectively and vindictively prosecuted him, ignoring the difference between tax avoidance, that is legal, and tax evasion, that is not, because, as Idaho Special Prosecutor (1997–2001), he prosecuted homicide charges against FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi for allegedly murdering Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992 and because on January 19, 2002 he brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee case and won it on December 18, 2003. At his November 27, 2007 sentencing, U.S. Dist. Judge Stephen V. Wilson said of Yagman: "he has entered a field of law that's difficult. He is always the underdog, and he is facing the establishment at its fiercest. So anyone who gets into that arena is brave and has a mission. He tried cases in my court . . . very competently." The convictions are the subject of a pending request that they be vacated on the ground they were a legal impossibility.
Youth, education and early career
Stephen Yagman was born in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York into a working class family. His father, Abraham, was a dental technician and his mother, Lillyan, was a secretary. He did not learn to read until he was 12 years old and attended Lincoln High School, in Brighton Beach. From 1962-66, Yagman was a lifeguard in Coney Island. After attending the State University of New York at Buffalo, he then graduated from Long Island UniversityLong Island University
Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...
in Brooklyn. He received a B.A. in American History, with minors in philosophy and political science. He then received an M.A. in philosophy from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, where he studied under former Trotskyite Sidney Hook, who supervised his master’s thesis on the self-incrimination clause of the Fifth Amendment. Hook encouraged Yagman to drop out of the Ph.D. program and begin law school. Yagman then attended Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
School of Law from which he received a J.D. degree in 1974.
During graduate school and law school, both of which he attended in the evenings, Yagman taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant from 1967 to 1974. In 1967, Yagman married Marion R. Yagman (from whom he was divorced in 1994) with whom he continues to practice law, along with his other partner, retired United States Magistrate Judge (1980–96) Joseph Reichmann.
Legal career
Stephen Yagman began his legal career the year before he graduated from Fordham Law School, as an attorney intern with the New York City Legal Aid SocietyLegal Aid Society
The Legal Aid Society in New York City is the United States' oldest and largest provider of legal services to the indigent. It operates both traditional civil and criminal law cases.-History:...
. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, Black Panther attorney Charles Garry, and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. His first job after graduation was as a New York State Special Assistant Attorney General assigned as an Assistant Special Prosecutor to the Manhattan office of the Office of Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, run by now Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes
Charles J. Hynes
Charles Joseph Hynes is the current district attorney of Kings County, New York . A Democrat, Hynes was first elected to office in 1989 and is currently serving a fifth term.-Life and career:...
. He then began private practice in Los Angeles and since then has specialized in police misconduct, civil rights in federal courts, and has tried to verdict more than 200 federal police misconduct cases and has argued over 150 federal appeals.
After the February 28, 1997 North Hollywood shootout
North Hollywood shootout
The North Hollywood shootout was an armed confrontation between two heavily armed bank robbers and officers of the Los Angeles Police Department in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles on February 28, 1997...
, Yagman represented, pro bono, the orphaned minor children of Emil Matasareanu, Jr., one of the robbers who was killed in the incident. In the federal civil rights action filed against the LAPD and its officers, it was alleged that the officers intentionally kept on-scene paramedics away fromm Matasareanu so that he would bleed to death and die on the street, instead of providing him with necessary medical attention that could have saved his life. The jury hung 9-3 in favor of the Matasareanu family, a mistrial was declared, and the case never was retried.
On November 12, 1997, Yagman was sworn in by U.S. Dist. Judge Robert M. Takasugi as Special Prosecutor for the State of Idaho to prosecute FBI sniper Lon T. Horiuchi
Lon Horiuchi
Lon Tomohisa Horiuchi is a U.S. FBI HRT sniper who was involved in controversial deployments during the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff and 1993 Waco Siege. In 1997, Horiuchi was charged with manslaughter for the death of Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge; the case was dismissed.-Early life:Horiuchi, the son of...
in the August 22, 1992 Ruby Ridge
Ruby Ridge
Ruby Ridge was the site of a violent confrontation and siege in northern Idaho in 1992. It involved Randy Weaver, his family, Weaver's friend Kevin Harris, and agents of the United States Marshals Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation...
killing of Vicki Weaver and served in that position pro bono until 2001, when he won a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declaring that federal law enforcement agents did not enjoy sovereign immunity and could be prosecuted criminally for state law homicide. Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001)(en banc). In January, 2002, Yagman brought, pro bono, the first case seeking habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
relief for Guantanamo Bay detainees, and in December, 2003, won the first case in which it was declared that Guantanamo detainees were entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in United States courts. Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004).
In 2003 and 2006, Yagman, pro bono, defended in two, three-month-long trials Amy Prien, who was charged with murder in the death of her three-month-old son. It was alleged that Prien breast fed her infant son methamphetaimine-laced breast milk. The first trial was lost and Prien was sentenced to life in prison. After a successful appeal, in the second trial the jury hung 9-3 in favor of acquittal, and the district attorney declined to proceed to a third trial, thus saving Prien from serving life in prison.
Stephen Yagman, (born December 19, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York) is a federal
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
.
Over his legal career, Stephen Yagman developed a reputation for being a civil rights advocate, a crusader against police brutality, and a "pugnacious civil rights lawyer." In County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said, "[C]ounsel, Stephen Yagman, has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff's advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent." Yagman relentlessly pursued civil rights cases against police, made his name suing the LAPD, and launched national reform of discipline of federal judges. The United States Judicial Conference cited Yagman in adopting its 2008 nationawide procedures for handling complaints of misconduct against federal judges.
In his 2011 book, "Lawyers on Trial," UCLA School of Law Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Abel listed Yagman in the chapter "Championing the 'Defenseless' and 'Oppressed,'" rated him a "highly competent, dedicated lawyer[] [who is a c]hampion[] of unpopular causes," and likened him to Clarence Darrow and William M. Kuntsler.
In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar. As Supreme Court Justice [Louis D.] Brandeis noted, '[t]he great opportunity of the American bar is and will be to stand . . . to protect the interests of the people.'" U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark (1966–69) seconded Judge Reinhardt's accolade: "Only the valiant have dared to sue the police for lawless violence and excessive force against the people. Foremost among the valiant is Stephen Yagman, who has bearded the lion in his den time and time again." University of California Irvine Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky held Yagman to be "a very important civil rights lawyer for a long period of time," said Yagman was "particularly important to bringing challenges to police abuse," and "helped to develop the law in this area in a very positive way and represented a lot of people who needed counsel." In 1994, Yagman prevented the implementation of the anti-immigrant, California Proposition 187, by obtaining a preliminary injunction barring public schools from excluding undocumented students, and then converting the preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction, after the Proposition was declared unconstitutional.
On November 22, 2010, Yagman was disbarred, based on June 22, 2007 federal convictions for one count each of tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud, and 11 counts of money laundering. Yagman contended that the IRS selectively and vindictively prosecuted him, ignoring the difference between tax avoidance, that is legal, and tax evasion, that is not, because, as Idaho Special Prosecutor (1997–2001), he prosecuted homicide charges against FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi for allegedly murdering Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992 and because on January 19, 2002 he brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee case and won it on December 18, 2003. At his November 27, 2007 sentencing, U.S. Dist. Judge Stephen V. Wilson said of Yagman: "he has entered a field of law that's difficult. He is always the underdog, and he is facing the establishment at its fiercest. So anyone who gets into that arena is brave and has a mission. He tried cases in my court . . . very competently." The convictions are the subject of a pending request that they be vacated on the ground they were a legal impossibility.
Youth, education and early career
Stephen Yagman was born in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York into a working class family. His father, Abraham, was a dental technician and his mother, Lillyan, was a secretary. He did not learn to read until he was 12 years old and attended Lincoln High School, in Brighton Beach. From 1962-66, Yagman was a lifeguard in Coney Island. After attending the State University of New York at Buffalo, he then graduated from Long Island UniversityLong Island University
Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...
in Brooklyn. He received a B.A. in American History, with minors in philosophy and political science. He then received an M.A. in philosophy from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, where he studied under former Trotskyite Sidney Hook, who supervised his master’s thesis on the self-incrimination clause of the Fifth Amendment. Hook encouraged Yagman to drop out of the Ph.D. program and begin law school. Yagman then attended Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
School of Law from which he received a J.D. degree in 1974.
During graduate school and law school, both of which he attended in the evenings, Yagman taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant from 1967 to 1974. In 1967, Yagman married Marion R. Yagman (from whom he was divorced in 1994) with whom he continues to practice law, along with his other partner, retired United States Magistrate Judge (1980–96) Joseph Reichmann.
Legal career
Stephen Yagman began his legal career the year before he graduated from Fordham Law School, as an attorney intern with the New York City Legal Aid SocietyLegal Aid Society
The Legal Aid Society in New York City is the United States' oldest and largest provider of legal services to the indigent. It operates both traditional civil and criminal law cases.-History:...
. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, Black Panther attorney Charles Garry, and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. His first job after graduation was as a New York State Special Assistant Attorney General assigned as an Assistant Special Prosecutor to the Manhattan office of the Office of Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, run by now Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes
Charles J. Hynes
Charles Joseph Hynes is the current district attorney of Kings County, New York . A Democrat, Hynes was first elected to office in 1989 and is currently serving a fifth term.-Life and career:...
. He then began private practice in Los Angeles and since then has specialized in police misconduct, civil rights in federal courts, and has tried to verdict more than 200 federal police misconduct cases and has argued over 150 federal appeals.
After the February 28, 1997 North Hollywood shootout
North Hollywood shootout
The North Hollywood shootout was an armed confrontation between two heavily armed bank robbers and officers of the Los Angeles Police Department in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles on February 28, 1997...
, Yagman represented, pro bono, the orphaned minor children of Emil Matasareanu, Jr., one of the robbers who was killed in the incident. In the federal civil rights action filed against the LAPD and its officers, it was alleged that the officers intentionally kept on-scene paramedics away fromm Matasareanu so that he would bleed to death and die on the street, instead of providing him with necessary medical attention that could have saved his life. The jury hung 9-3 in favor of the Matasareanu family, a mistrial was declared, and the case never was retried.
On November 12, 1997, Yagman was sworn in by U.S. Dist. Judge Robert M. Takasugi as Special Prosecutor for the State of Idaho to prosecute FBI sniper Lon T. Horiuchi
Lon Horiuchi
Lon Tomohisa Horiuchi is a U.S. FBI HRT sniper who was involved in controversial deployments during the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff and 1993 Waco Siege. In 1997, Horiuchi was charged with manslaughter for the death of Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge; the case was dismissed.-Early life:Horiuchi, the son of...
in the August 22, 1992 Ruby Ridge
Ruby Ridge
Ruby Ridge was the site of a violent confrontation and siege in northern Idaho in 1992. It involved Randy Weaver, his family, Weaver's friend Kevin Harris, and agents of the United States Marshals Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation...
killing of Vicki Weaver and served in that position pro bono until 2001, when he won a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declaring that federal law enforcement agents did not enjoy sovereign immunity and could be prosecuted criminally for state law homicide. Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001)(en banc). In January, 2002, Yagman brought, pro bono, the first case seeking habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
relief for Guantanamo Bay detainees, and in December, 2003, won the first case in which it was declared that Guantanamo detainees were entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in United States courts. Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004).
In 2003 and 2006, Yagman, pro bono, defended in two, three-month-long trials Amy Prien, who was charged with murder in the death of her three-month-old son. It was alleged that Prien breast fed her infant son methamphetaimine-laced breast milk. The first trial was lost and Prien was sentenced to life in prison. After a successful appeal, in the second trial the jury hung 9-3 in favor of acquittal, and the district attorney declined to proceed to a third trial, thus saving Prien from serving life in prison.
Stephen Yagman, (born December 19, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York) is a federal
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
.
Over his legal career, Stephen Yagman developed a reputation for being a civil rights advocate, a crusader against police brutality, and a "pugnacious civil rights lawyer." In County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said, "[C]ounsel, Stephen Yagman, has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff's advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent." Yagman relentlessly pursued civil rights cases against police, made his name suing the LAPD, and launched national reform of discipline of federal judges. The United States Judicial Conference cited Yagman in adopting its 2008 nationawide procedures for handling complaints of misconduct against federal judges.
In his 2011 book, "Lawyers on Trial," UCLA School of Law Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Abel listed Yagman in the chapter "Championing the 'Defenseless' and 'Oppressed,'" rated him a "highly competent, dedicated lawyer[] [who is a c]hampion[] of unpopular causes," and likened him to Clarence Darrow and William M. Kuntsler.
In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar. As Supreme Court Justice [Louis D.] Brandeis noted, '[t]he great opportunity of the American bar is and will be to stand . . . to protect the interests of the people.'" U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark (1966–69) seconded Judge Reinhardt's accolade: "Only the valiant have dared to sue the police for lawless violence and excessive force against the people. Foremost among the valiant is Stephen Yagman, who has bearded the lion in his den time and time again." University of California Irvine Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky held Yagman to be "a very important civil rights lawyer for a long period of time," said Yagman was "particularly important to bringing challenges to police abuse," and "helped to develop the law in this area in a very positive way and represented a lot of people who needed counsel." In 1994, Yagman prevented the implementation of the anti-immigrant, California Proposition 187, by obtaining a preliminary injunction barring public schools from excluding undocumented students, and then converting the preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction, after the Proposition was declared unconstitutional.
On November 22, 2010, Yagman was disbarred, based on June 22, 2007 federal convictions for one count each of tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud, and 11 counts of money laundering. Yagman contended that the IRS selectively and vindictively prosecuted him, ignoring the difference between tax avoidance, that is legal, and tax evasion, that is not, because, as Idaho Special Prosecutor (1997–2001), he prosecuted homicide charges against FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi for allegedly murdering Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992 and because on January 19, 2002 he brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee case and won it on December 18, 2003. At his November 27, 2007 sentencing, U.S. Dist. Judge Stephen V. Wilson said of Yagman: "he has entered a field of law that's difficult. He is always the underdog, and he is facing the establishment at its fiercest. So anyone who gets into that arena is brave and has a mission. He tried cases in my court . . . very competently." The convictions are the subject of a pending request that they be vacated on the ground they were a legal impossibility.
Youth, education and early career
Stephen Yagman was born in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York into a working class family. His father, Abraham, was a dental technician and his mother, Lillyan, was a secretary. He did not learn to read until he was 12 years old and attended Lincoln High School, in Brighton Beach. From 1962-66, Yagman was a lifeguard in Coney Island. After attending the State University of New York at Buffalo, he then graduated from Long Island UniversityLong Island University
Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...
in Brooklyn. He received a B.A. in American History, with minors in philosophy and political science. He then received an M.A. in philosophy from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, where he studied under former Trotskyite Sidney Hook, who supervised his master’s thesis on the self-incrimination clause of the Fifth Amendment. Hook encouraged Yagman to drop out of the Ph.D. program and begin law school. Yagman then attended Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
School of Law from which he received a J.D. degree in 1974.
During graduate school and law school, both of which he attended in the evenings, Yagman taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant from 1967 to 1974. In 1967, Yagman married Marion R. Yagman (from whom he was divorced in 1994) with whom he continues to practice law, along with his other partner, retired United States Magistrate Judge (1980–96) Joseph Reichmann.
Legal career
Stephen Yagman began his legal career the year before he graduated from Fordham Law School, as an attorney intern with the New York City Legal Aid SocietyLegal Aid Society
The Legal Aid Society in New York City is the United States' oldest and largest provider of legal services to the indigent. It operates both traditional civil and criminal law cases.-History:...
. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, Black Panther attorney Charles Garry, and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. His first job after graduation was as a New York State Special Assistant Attorney General assigned as an Assistant Special Prosecutor to the Manhattan office of the Office of Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, run by now Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes
Charles J. Hynes
Charles Joseph Hynes is the current district attorney of Kings County, New York . A Democrat, Hynes was first elected to office in 1989 and is currently serving a fifth term.-Life and career:...
. He then began private practice in Los Angeles and since then has specialized in police misconduct, civil rights in federal courts, and has tried to verdict more than 200 federal police misconduct cases and has argued over 150 federal appeals.
After the February 28, 1997 North Hollywood shootout
North Hollywood shootout
The North Hollywood shootout was an armed confrontation between two heavily armed bank robbers and officers of the Los Angeles Police Department in the North Hollywood district of Los Angeles on February 28, 1997...
, Yagman represented, pro bono, the orphaned minor children of Emil Matasareanu, Jr., one of the robbers who was killed in the incident. In the federal civil rights action filed against the LAPD and its officers, it was alleged that the officers intentionally kept on-scene paramedics away fromm Matasareanu so that he would bleed to death and die on the street, instead of providing him with necessary medical attention that could have saved his life. The jury hung 9-3 in favor of the Matasareanu family, a mistrial was declared, and the case never was retried.
On November 12, 1997, Yagman was sworn in by U.S. Dist. Judge Robert M. Takasugi as Special Prosecutor for the State of Idaho to prosecute FBI sniper Lon T. Horiuchi
Lon Horiuchi
Lon Tomohisa Horiuchi is a U.S. FBI HRT sniper who was involved in controversial deployments during the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff and 1993 Waco Siege. In 1997, Horiuchi was charged with manslaughter for the death of Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge; the case was dismissed.-Early life:Horiuchi, the son of...
in the August 22, 1992 Ruby Ridge
Ruby Ridge
Ruby Ridge was the site of a violent confrontation and siege in northern Idaho in 1992. It involved Randy Weaver, his family, Weaver's friend Kevin Harris, and agents of the United States Marshals Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation...
killing of Vicki Weaver and served in that position pro bono until 2001, when he won a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declaring that federal law enforcement agents did not enjoy sovereign immunity and could be prosecuted criminally for state law homicide. Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001)(en banc). In January, 2002, Yagman brought, pro bono, the first case seeking habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
relief for Guantanamo Bay detainees, and in December, 2003, won the first case in which it was declared that Guantanamo detainees were entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in United States courts. Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004).
In 2003 and 2006, Yagman, pro bono, defended in two, three-month-long trials Amy Prien, who was charged with murder in the death of her three-month-old son. It was alleged that Prien breast fed her infant son methamphetaimine-laced breast milk. The first trial was lost and Prien was sentenced to life in prison. After a successful appeal, in the second trial the jury hung 9-3 in favor of acquittal, and the district attorney declined to proceed to a third trial, thus saving Prien from serving life in prison.
Stephen Yagman legal cases
Yagman has prosecuted many cases, such as:
Armster v. City of Riverside, 611 F.Supp. 103 (C.D. Cal. 1985)(police who stand by and observe other police commit civil rights violations may be held liable for failing to prevent the violations);
Armster v. United States District Court, 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986)(wholesale suspension of civil jury trials in federal courts based on budget shortfall violates Seventh Amendment to U.S. Constitution);
Cabrales v. County of Los Angeles, 864 F.2d 1454 (9th Cir. 1988)(first case in which Los Angeles County jail system held liable for inmate suicide);
Children Who Want an Education v. Wilson, 908 F.Supp. 755 (C.D. Cal. 1995)(California’s anti-immigrant Proposition 187 declared unconstitutional and enjoined);
Crumpton v. Gates, 947 F.2d 1418 (9th Cir. 1991)(an in utero fetus may sue police for killing his father once he is born);
Cunningham v. Gates, 229 F.3d 1271 (9th Cir. 2000)(elected government officials may be held liable personally for indemnifying police guilty of civil rights violations for punitive damages levied against them by juries);
Dang v. Cross, 422 F.3d 800 (9th Cir. 2005)(redefines basis for punitive damages against police to include infliction of oppressive conduct);
Diaz v. Gates, 420 F.3d 897 (9th Cir. 2005)(per curiam)(en banc)(establishing principle that police may be sued under federal racketeering statute for injuring one in her employment), cert. denied sub nom. Parks v. Diaz, 126 S.Ct. 1069 (2006);
Erickson v. Knapp, 938 F.Supp. 581 (C.D. Cal. 1996)(police may not seize news photographer’s camera without probable cause);
County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000)(defense attempt to disqualify Yagman denied: Chief Judge Alex Kozinski stating: “Stephen Yagman[] has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff’s advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent.”);
Fowler v. Block, 2 F.Supp. 2d 1268 (C.D. Cal. 1998)(holding it unconstitutional for sheriff to continue to hold in custody person ordered by court to be released, in order to check for outstanding warrants);
Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004)(first case to hold that Guantanamo Bay detainees entitled to petition federal courts for habeas corpus);
Green v. Baca, 225 F.R.D. 612 (C.D. Cal. 2005)(imposing $54,375 sanction on police defense counsel for concealing 11,704 pages of reports from plaintiff);
Guerrero v. Gates, 442 F.3d 697 (9th Cir. 2006)(plaintiffs’ excessive force claims are not barred by prior conviction arising from same events; loss of employment sufficient to state an injury to business under racketeering laws);
Hammer v. Gross, 932 F.2d 842 (9th Cir. 1991)(en banc)(forced blood tests may not be administered to drunk driving suspects);
Hart v. Gaioni, 354 F.Supp. 2d 1127 (C.D. Cal. 2005)(establishing right to sue in federal court for denial of right to access to sue in federal court by interfering with a plaintiff’s right to counsel);
Hawkins v. Comparet-Cassani, 33 F.Supp. 2d 1244 (C.D. Cal. 1998)(holding unconstitutional use of 50,000-volt stun belt on prisoner who was before the court);
Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001)(en banc)(establishing right of states to prosecute criminally for homicide federal officials);
In re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct (Judge Manuel L. Real), 425 F.3d 1179 (9th Cir. 2005)(finding judicial misconduct because of judge taking action on improper communication from a party);
Johnson v. Campbell, 92 F.3d 951 (9th Cir. 1996)(jurors may not be challenged because they are gay);
Larez v. Gates, 946 F.2d 630 (9th Cir. 1991)(setting forth seminal standards for suing government based on having a custom of police misconduct);
Milstein v. Cooley, 208 F.Supp. 2d 1116 (C.D. Cal. 2002)(there is a clearly established due process right not to be prosecuted based on fabricated evidence);
Moreno v. Baca, 431 F.3d 633 (9th Cir. 2005)(suspicion-less arrest and search may not be retroactively justified by police subsequent to discovery that person arrested is on parole or subject to an outstanding arrest warrant);
Motley v. Parks, 432 F.3d 1072 (9th Cir. 2005)(en banc)(parole search must be preceded by probable cause; unreasonable to point a gun at a baby while searching);
Standing Committee on Discipline v. Yagman, 55 F.3d 1430 (9th Cir. 1995)(lawyer has right of freedom of speech to criticize federal judge and may not be disciplined for doing so, creating the so-called “Yagman Rule”);
Thomas v. Baca, 231 F.R.D. 397 (C.D. Cal. 2005)(granting class action to over 500,000 Los Angeles County jail inmates who were forced to sleep on the floors without bunks);
Thomas v. Baca, 514 F.Supp. 2d 1201 (C.D. Cal. 2007)(holding unconstitutional forcing jail inmates to sleep on floors without bunks);
Vanke v. Block, 98-04111-DDP (C.D. Cal. 11-07-98)(granting class action to 22,000 Los Angeles County jail inmates, and issuing preliminary injunction that prohibited sheriff from refusing timely to release inmates who had been ordered to be released, but whom sheriff continued to detain to search for outstanding warrants).
Writings
Stephen Yagman has written two nationally-important legal practice books and one play, and hundreds of newspaper columns for the California-statewide legal newspaper, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. Section 1983 Federal Jury Practice and Instructions, West Publishing, 1998; Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions, Thomson West Publishing, 2002; Guantanamo-Act IV, a play, Beyond Baroque Foundation, 2004.Awards
2005, California Lawyer Magazine, CLAY Award, Yagman chosen as one of California’s top 41 lawyers for “extraordinary achievements, making a significant impact on the law, work [that] has had a profound, far-reaching impact, and whose achievements are expected to have such an impact in coming years, and have changed the law, broken new ground, and substantially influenced public policy.”2002, California Lawyer Magazine, CLAY Award, Yagman chosen as one of California’s top 25 lawyers for “cutting edge work that helps the state maintain its reputation as a [legal] trendsetter, that shaped the law, the profession, and the way the law affects industry and the public, and who left a lasting impact on the way those who follow them will practice.”
2000, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Yagman chosen as one of “Top 100 Most Influential California Lawyers.”
1999, Los Angeles Times, Yagman chosen as one of “Top 103 Most Influential People” in Los Angeles.
1996, People’s College of Law Clarence Darrow Award: “for renowned progressive legal advocacy, commitment to pro bono work, and tireless involvement in diverse political and human rights efforts at local, national, and international levels. Throughout the 1970’s, 1980’s, and 1990’s, Yagman has been engaged in progressive legal advocacy and has established legal precedent that has secured benefits to us all. The legal community across the nation can be grateful for the dedication and hard work that has been the hallmark of Stephen Yagman’s practice.”
1993, Los Angeles Criminal Courts Bar Ass’n, President’s Award, “In recognition of [Yagman’s] zealous and dedicated advocacy and protection of his clients’ rights he has battled courageously against abuse of governmental power at the risk of great personal sacrifice and loss.”
1974, Guild of Catholic Lawyers, Jurisprudence Award.
Sources
- Los Angeles Daily Journal, Profile, Oct. 26, 1987, p. 1
- Los Angeles Daily Journal, Profile, Oct. 26, 1987, p. 1
- Los Angeles Herald Examiner, “Attorney Tops Cops’ Most Wanted List,” Dec. 19, 1988, p. 1
- Los Angeles Reader, “L.A.P.D. Death Squad,” April 10, 1992, cover
- Los Angeles New Times, “Cop Cruncher,” Oct. 2, 1997, cover
- Los Angeles Times Magazine, “One Angry Man,” June 28, 1998, cover
- California LawBusiness, “Sympathy for the Devil,” Nov. 6, 2000, cover
- Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and In structions (Thomson West Publishing, 2002), XLVII - LV
- Jerome Herbert Skolnick and James J. Fyfe, Above the Law, Police and the Excessive Use of Force (Free Press, 1993), pp. 17, 18, 146- 64, 203
External links
- Stephen Yagman - Official website
