A primer on suspended Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas' bribery trial

The longtime powerbroker is accused of steering county contracts to the University of Southern California in exchange for his son's admission and professorship.

Suspended Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas leaves the new federal courthouse downtown on March 6, 2023. His lawyer Galia Amram of Morrison & Foerster LLP is next to him. (Photo by Meghann M. Cuniff)

Attorneys will give opening statements Wednesday in longtime Los Angeles politician Mark Ridley-Thomas’ federal criminal trial after 12 jurors …