Felonies

Leland Wong, a power broker in former Mayor James K. Hahn's administration who already is facing bribery charges, was accused Thursday of a felony conflict of interest for voting on a retail concessions contract at Los Angeles International Airport in which he allegedly had a financial stake. Wong was an airport commissioner in 2002, when the vote took place.

At 8 o'clock in the morning the single-file line grows to 52 people waiting to shuffle past the sheriff's security checkpoint and into the monolithic stone courthouse. More arrive by the minute. Except for an infant too young to know the paralytic effect of dread on one's spirits and the occasional beep-beep of the metal detector, the aging lobby is hushed. Conversations pass in murmurs or, often, through tense glances or the squeeze of hands.

A fortuneteller's toy sits on the desk in the public defender's office. Shake the pirate's head and lift the eye patch to read the future. Michelle Paffile gives it a try. "Clear sailing ahead, matey." About time, she mutters impatiently. It's about time for the justice system to clear things up and deliver some justice to one defendant. Paffile is a public defender at the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Norwalk.

About 1.5 million convicted felons who have completed their sentences are still denied the right to vote, according to a report released today. Unlike the District of Columbia and 34 states, including California, where voting rights are automatically restored to convicted felons who have completed their sentences, 14 states severely restrict -- or even prohibit -- onetime prisoners from casting ballots.

The husband of a woman accused of planting a finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili now faces two felony charges in the alleged scheme, Santa Clara County prosecutors said Tuesday. Jaime Placencia, 43, who was arrested May 4 in Las Vegas on unrelated charges, faces charges similar to those of his wife, Anna Ayala. He was charged with conspiracy to file a false charge and attempted grand theft with excessive damages.

To some music lovers, paying $18 for a CD with only one good song is a crime. To some members of Congress, letting someone copy a song online without paying for it should be a felony. A bill introduced by senior Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee would make it easier for federal prosecutors to bring felony charges against people who offer at least one song, movie or other digital file on Kazaa or other public computer networks. The proposal by Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.

"Composite Cathy" is a 40-something downtown office manager who, frankly, doesn't know Pitt from Iona when it comes to college hoops. She pays her rent on time, won't make a right turn on a red light and hasn't bounced a check since the Carter Administration. Yet, Cathy annually ponies up $5 for her company's NCAA basketball tournament office pool.

Two men were arrested Monday on felony charges of cutting down a 50-year-old, city-owned tree. Benito Martinez of Canoga Park and Martin Juarez of Reseda, both 31, were taken into custody on suspicion of felony vandalism for allegedly downing the 60-foot liquidambar tree in the 5900 block of Hesperia Avenue, police said. They were being held at the West Valley police station jail on $15,000 bail each Monday night.

A speedy-trial plan implemented earlier this year at the downtown Los Angeles Criminal Courts Building has sharply cut the time it takes for three-strikes cases to move through the system, according to a report released Wednesday. From start to finish in Superior Court, the average third-strike case took 86 days in 1996, according to the report from Judge James Bascue, the supervising judge at the courthouse.

In an extraordinary verbal assault from the bench, a Superior Court judge accused Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti of a "gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion" for seeking a 'three strikes' conviction--and the possibility of life imprisonment--against a homeless man accused of possessing three-tenths of a gram of cocaine. The stinging remarks by Judge David P. Yaffe came moments after a jury acquitted defendant Michael Newhouse on Monday after about an hour's deliberation.