Andrew J Guilford

Former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona's request to file a secret motion to move his corruption trial out of Southern California violates the 1st Amendment's free-press protection, a media attorney argued Thursday. Carona's attorneys have asked U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford to keep their motion to move the trial sealed because releasing it would create additional inflammatory publicity about the case.

Hoping to shed the "L.A. Law" image of well-heeled lawyers driving fancy sports cars, the Orange County Bar Assn. Wednesday formally inaugurated a new program that encourages attorneys to provide free legal services to the poor. Association President Andrew J. Guilford said 26 of the county's largest law firms already have signed up, with a total of 775 lawyers pledging to each donate 35 hours a year to the poor. He estimated that the donations will total at least $5 million in billable hours.

The former executive director of the Orange County Bar Assn. sued the organization Friday, alleging that she was wrongfully forced to resign. Patricia C. Ruhlman, 60, contends in her lawsuit that her resignation was the result of a dispute over her authority to fire a subordinate.

An Orange County judge is expected to toss out a class- action lawsuit that blames Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for alleged sweatshop conditions in five Third World countries that supply the retail giant. U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford, who heard arguments Monday and said he would issue a decision later, indicated that he would dismiss all claims against Wal-Mart.

Calling the words irrelevant and prejudicial, a federal judge ruled that the phrase "longtime mistress" should be removed from the description of charges against Debra V. Hoffman, a co-defendant in former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona's upcoming corruption trial. The decision by U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford made public Tuesday affects only the language in the indictment and will not prevent prosecutors from presenting evidence about the romantic relationship between the ex-sheriff and Hoffman.

Former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona has lost his bid to have a prosecutor removed from his corruption case because of the prosecutor's role in the wiretapping of a government informant. Carona's attorneys had argued that Assistant U.S. Atty. Brett Sagel should be disqualified because he was the best witness regarding a bogus subpoena that former Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl took with him when he met with Carona and secretly taped conversations.

A former FBI agent convicted of planning an invasion-style robbery of what he thought was a drug stash house containing a half-million dollars in cash was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday by a federal judge in Santa Ana. Ex-agent Vo Duong Tran, 42, and his accomplice, Yu Sung Park, 36, were arrested in possession of bulletproof vests, a machine gun, other weapons, silencers and hundreds of rounds of ammunition that they intended to use...

Writing that he was less swayed by "emotional argument," a judge Friday voided a jury's recommended $52.4-million damage verdict for an elderly couple's heirs who claimed that a bank mishandled the couple's trust property. Orange County Superior Court Judge Lloyd E. Blanpied Jr. found that employees of Security Pacific National Bank were "conscientious people acting in good faith" who did nothing wrong in administering the trust. "We are absolutely elated," said Andrew J.

Despite a strong show of support from Steve Garvey and a handful of victims, a former Cal State Fullerton baseball player who hired the onetime Dodgers star to promote his mortgage company was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for stealing $32 million from more than 200 investors through a real estate scam. An apologetic Salvatore "Sam" Favata also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford to compensate his victims at a rate of $10,000 a month when he is released from prison.