Chief judge calls courtroom media ban for Mizuhara arraignment 'unfortunate error'
The judges are blaming the courthouse security officers for not allowing journalists inside the courtroom for Tuesday's hearing in a case of international interest.
The chief federal judge in Los Angeles on Wednesday called the decision to bar journalists from the courtroom during Ippei Mizuhara’s arraignment an “unfortunate error” by courthouse security.
U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee blamed a “miscommunication” for why only a sketch artist was allowed inside U.S. Magistrate Judge Jean P. Rosenbluth’s courtroom when Mizuhara pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to two felonies related to his admitted embezzlement of $16 million from his former boss, Major League Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Rosenbluth acknowledged “complaints” about the ban at the start of the arraignment and blamed the security officers, whom she said were in charge of deciding how to handle media interest in the high-profile hearing. She noted she is a former Los Angeles Times reporter.
Myself and other reporters were relegated to a courtroom with only audio of the proceeding. It was a procedural arraignment that felt like a waste of time given Mizuhara’s May 8 plea agreement, but it’s still a major case with international interest and there were a lot of angry reporters who didn’t get to watch the arraignment.
I took the time to tweet about it, and I also signed the complaint Associated Press reporter Stefanie Dazio wrote and delivered to the court. That’s the complaint that prompted the response from Judge Gee.
Gee’s letter on Wednesday said the overflow courtroom “was intended to be just that, i.e., to accommodate any members of the public who wished to observe the proceedings but were unable to be seated in the duty courtroom because it had reached capacity.”
“Unfortunately, members of the media, except a sketch artist, were excluded from the courtroom where the live proceedings were held. This was neither the intention of the presiding Magistrate Judge nor the policy of this District Court. Moreover, such exclusion is contrary to well-established principles of judicial transparency that assure public access for criminal proceedings. While members of the media were able to listen to a live audio feed of the proceedings, the Court understands the importance of public access to our courtrooms.
The Court will work closely with the United States Marshals Service, which oversees the Court’s security personnel, to ensure this unfortunate error is not repeated.”
Gee is a 2010 Barack Obama appointee who recently began her term as chief judge of the Central District of California, taking over for U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez.
She briefly had Mizuhara’s case after the originally assigned judge, U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb in Santa Ana, transferred it to her because she is presiding over criminal cases related to the same gambling ring in which Mizuhara participated.
Gee, however, said the case isn’t “sufficiently related” and sent it back to Holcomb.
Mizuhara is scheduled to plead guilty on June 4 at 9 a.m. in Santa Ana before Holcomb, who is a 2020 Donald Trump appointee. He’ll be sentenced at a later date. His lawyer and prosecutors will file briefs detailing their sentencing recommendations, and Mizuhara can submit character reference letters. Prosecutors also could submit a victim impact statement from Ohtani, but it could be sealed from public view.
As you can see from the top video, Mizuhara and his lawyer, Michael Freedman, stayed silent as they were mobbed by media walking in.
Then they had to stand in line for security while the mob engulfed them.
Walking out was nuttier. A few people were super aggressive, getting right up on Mizuhara and barking in his ear. It was one of the crazier media mobs I’ve seen up close. I bet it’ll be even crazier for his change-of-plea and especially for his sentencing.
My video of the mob leaving was reshared on Twitter/X by a major Japanese account, and it’s giving me a glimpse of Ohtani’s wild popularity.
I also recently spoke about Mizuhara’s case with my former Orange County Register colleague Tomoya Shimura, who covers Ohtani for media outlets in his home country of Japan, and he told me about the huge daily interest in Ohtani in Japanese news. He also quoted me in his article.
In case you missed it, I discussed Mizuhara’s possible prison sentence on LiveNOW from Fox:
Looking ahead:
I’m looking at Hunter Biden’s federal criminal case in Los Angeles, which is scheduled for trial June 20 before U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi. Prosecutors filed a bunch of stuff tonight, including their exhibit list.
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