Posted on 11/05/2008 9:03:35 PM PST by nickcarraway
While thousands of people were busy voting, a judge was ordering former San Francisco Police Chief Earl Sanders to pay the city $27,872.
The award was for attorneys fees in -- are you ready for this one? -- a foundering state lawsuit brought after a federal lawsuit was dismissed after a grand jury indicted Sanders on criminal charges that were dropped.
Translation: it's all fallout from fajitagate.
You remember that colorful chapter in city history. It started with a November 2002 brawl on Union Street in which two men accused three off-duty officers, including Alex Fagan Jr., son of then-Assistant Chief Alex Fagan, of attacking them because one of them had refused to hand over a bag of steak fajitas.
Sanders and six other police officials were indicted by a grand jury in February 2003 on charges of obstructing the investigation. Those charges were quickly dropped by prosecutors or thrown out by a judge.
Sanders was put on paid medical leave after his indictment and later retired without returning to work. Then District Attorney Terence Hallinan, who insists he never sought Sanders' indictment, was defeated for re-election in 2003.
Sanders sued Hallinan and the city in federal court in September 2004, contending he had been prosecuted maliciously. He wasn't successful and appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.
Sanders then pursued in San Francisco Superior Court, where Judge John Stewart ruled for the city, and awarded attorneys fees under a state law designed to discourage lawsuits that attempt to stifle public speech about public issues.
Sanders has already appealed Stewart's ruling, but if he loses the appeal he could be on the hook for more attorney's fees.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
“Drop the Chalupa!”
lol the never ending story
You aren't kidding.
Kinda makes me miss the ventriloquist dummy officer. He never beat anybody up.
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