Prosecutors and defense attorneys delivered their opening statements Wednesday. Both sides stressed their version of what was in Ridley-Thomas’ mind during his dealings with the USC School of Social Work.
for having long been a champion of civil rights, child welfare and public health issues. He was instrumental, for example, in the rebuilding of Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital.
“With his sudden and premature exit from public life, he needed a career and other landing spots to publicly justify his abrupt resignation and tackle a mounting personal debt,” federal prosecutors state in their trial memorandum. “Defendant was looking for ways to provide his son with those landing spots.”
Ridley-Thomas voted on three contracts “that Dean Flynn had sought to shore up her School’s shoddy financial situation,” according to the prosecutors. The contracts included a TeleHealth agreement worth $9 million annually. “In exchange for help securing County contracts and amendments to existing contracts, defendant solicited and demanded from co-defendant Flynn and USC a variety of benefits primarily intended to help his son,” the memo alleges. “Co-defendant Flynn readily obliged, gladly offering any perk and benefit at her disposal to sway defendant in the performance of his official duties.
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