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| {{Short description|American lawyer}} | |||
| ] | |||
| {{Infobox person | |||
| '''Stephen G. Yagman''', (born December 19, 1944 in ]) is a ] ] ]. | |||
| | name = Stephen Yagman | |||
| | image = Yagman in 2023.jpg | |||
| | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1944|12|19}} | |||
| | birth_place = ] | |||
| | education = ] (]) | |||
| ] (]) | |||
| ] (]) | |||
| | known_for = Federal Civil Rights; ] | |||
| }} | |||
| '''Stephen Yagman''' (born December 19, 1944) is an American ] civil rights lawyer, who also handles criminal defense and habeas corpus matters. He has a reputation for being an exceptionally zealous advocate in cases regarding allegations of ].<ref name="autogenerated1">''National Law Journal'', pg. 1, February 28, 2011, "Yagman unbowed, but getting on with life"</ref><ref name="heraldexaminer"/><ref name="dailyjournal">''Los Angeles Daily Journal'', October 26, 1987, pg. 1.</ref> He has argued hundreds of federal civil rights cases before a jury, and has been involved in over a hundred and fifty federal appeals and certiorari petitions before the United States Supreme Court. | |||
| Over his legal career, Yagman developed a reputation for being combative, unpredictable, and never being afraid of challenging those in power. In notable instances, he compared one federal judge to the head of the ] and accused another of being ]. He called former ] ] "the personification of evil."<ref name=LAT112807>Scott Glover, , ''Los Angeles Times'', November 28, 2007, Accessed May 10, 2010.</ref> | |||
| ==Youth, education and early career== | ==Youth, education and early career== | ||
| Stephen Yagman was born in 1944 in ] to working-class parents. His father was a dental mechanic and his mother was a secretary.<ref name="dailyjournal"/> Yagman attended ].<ref name="yagnet">''Yagman, Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions'' (Thomson West Publishing, 2002), XLVII-LV <!--ISBN needed--></ref> After attending the ], he then graduated from ] in Brooklyn.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} | |||
| Yagman received a B.A. in American History, with co-majors in philosophy and political science. He later earned an M.A. in philosophy from ], where his graduate advisor and mentor was Professor Sidney Hook, and his master's dissertation was on the Fifth Amendment's self-incrimination clause. He attended ], receiving a ] in 1974, where he was on the dean's list and received the Jurisprudence Award of the Guild of Catholic Lawyers.<ref>Fordham Univ. transcript, govt. exhibit 27 in U.S. v. Yagman, 06-00227-SVW (C.D. Cal.)</ref> During graduate school and law school, he taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in ] and ], in Title I (lower socioeconomic) schools, from 1967-74. From 1967 until their divorce in 1994, he was married to Marion R. Yagman, with whom he practiced law for many years (1978-2021). <ref name="yagmanlaw.net">; accessed April 18, 2014.</ref> | |||
| Yagman was born in 1944 in ] into a working class family, where he attended ], in Brighton Beach. After attending the ], he then graduated from ] in Brooklyn. He received a B.A. in American History, with minors in philosophy and political science. He then received a M.A. in philosophy from ], where he studied under former Trotskyite Sidney Hook, who supervised his master’s thesis on the self-incrimination clause of the Fifth Amendment. Hook encouraged Yagman to drop out of the Ph.D. program and begin law school. Yagman then attended ] School of Law from which he received a J.D. degree in 1974. | |||
| During graduate school and law school, both of which he attended in the evenings, Yagman taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant from 1967 to 1974. In 1967, Yagman married Marion R. Yagman (from whom he was divorced in 1994) with whom he continues to practice law, along with his other partner, retired United States Magistrate Judge (1980-96) Joseph Reichmann.<ref>yagmanlaw.net; ''Yagman, Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions'' (Thomson West Publishing, 2002), XLVII - LV, ''Los Angeles Daily Journal'', Profile, Oct. 26, 1987, p. 1; ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'', “Attorney Tops Cops’ Most Wanted List,” Dec. 19, 1988, p. 1</ref> | |||
| ==Legal career== | ==Legal career== | ||
| Yagman's legal career began before he graduated, as an attorney-intern with the ]. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, attorney ], house counsel to the ], and ] ]. After graduating law school, he was appointed by New York State Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz to the office of the ] as a Special Assistant Attorney General, assigned as an Assistant Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, in the Manhattan office of the Special State Prosecutor for Nursing Homes. | |||
| In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in ''Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct.'', 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, ''Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct'', 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge ] said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar." | |||
| Yagman began his legal career the year before he graduated from Fordham Law School, as an attorney intern with the ], where he was mentored by late-Judge Martin Erdmann. His first job after graduation was as a New York State Special Assistant Attorney General assigned as an Assistant Special Prosecutor to the Manhattan office of the Office of Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, run by now Brooklyn District Attorney ]. He then began private practice in Los Angeles and since then has specialized in police misconduct, civil rights in federal courts, and has tried to verdict more than 200 federal police misconduct cases and has argued over 150 federal appeals. | |||
| In January 2002, Yagman brought the first case seeking ] relief for ] detainees, Coalition of Clergy, Lawyers & Professors v. George Walker Bush & Donald Rumsfeld, 310 F.3d 1153 (9th Cir. 2002). | |||
| After the 1997 ], Yagman represented the family of Emil Matasareanu, one of the robbers killed in the incident. In the wrongful death claim filed against the LAPD, it was asserted that the LAPD let Emil Matasareanu die on the street instead of providing him with necessary medical attention that potentially could have saved his life <ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/03/15/national/main172527.shtml</ref>. The lawsuit was declared a mistrial due to a hopelessly hung jury. The Matasareanu family agreed not to retry the case, provided the officers involved signed a waiver not to sue for malicious prosecution (which was effectively an admission that Yagman had goaded the family into filing the frivolous/malicious suit). Ultimately, the city of LA paid $50,000 to the police involved in the matter in order to cover the legal expense incurred in Yagman's frivolous suit<ref>http://www.goldbergandgage.com/important_cases_north.html</ref>. | |||
| On December 18, 2003, Yagman won the first case in which it was declared that ] were entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in ]. ''Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld'', 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004).<ref name="heraldexaminer">'']'', “Attorney Tops Cops’ Most Wanted List”, December 19, 1988, p. 1</ref><ref name="yagnet"/> | |||
| On November 12, 1997, Yagman was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi as Special Prosecutor for the ] to prosecute FBI sniper ] in the August 22, 1992 ] killing of Vicki Weaver. In 2001, Yagman won a decision from the ] declaring that federal law enforcement agents did not enjoy ] and could be prosecuted criminally for state law homicide. ''Idaho v. Horiuchi'', 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001) ('']''). | |||
| ==Cases== | |||
| '''Yagman has prosecuted hundreds of notable cases and scores have resulted in landmark decisions among them:''' | |||
| In ''County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct.'' (''Forsyth v. Block''), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief ] noted that Yagman "has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff's advocate in ] cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent." Some of his most notorious cases involved the ] and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.<ref>Jessica Garrison, "L.A. Officials Know To Expect Attorney's Call", ''L.A. Times'', March 22, 2006, p. B1</ref><ref name="bazelon">], "Putting the Mice in Charge of the Cheese: Why Federal Judges Cannot Always be Trusted to Police Themselves and What Congress Can do about It", 97 ''Kentucky Law Journal'' pp. 439, 455 & n. 103, 2008-2009.</ref> | |||
| ''Armster v. City of Riverside'', 611 F.Supp. 103 (C.D. Cal. 1985)(police who stand by and observe other police commit civil rights violations may be held liable for failing to prevent the violations); | |||
| ''Armster v. United States District Court'', 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986)(wholesale suspension of civil jury trials in federal courts based on budget shortfall violates Seventh Amendment to U.S. Constitution); | |||
| Yagman lodged complaints of ] against U.S. District Judge ] which, according to one commentator, "were at the center of the controversy over the effectiveness of the federal judicial disciplinary system and exerted a uniquely powerful influence on subsequent attempts at reform."<ref name="bazelon"/> The United States Judicial Conference cited the Yagman disciplinary case in adopting its 2008 nationwide procedures for handling complaints of misconduct against federal judges. In his 2011 book, ''Lawyers on Trial'', ] Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Abel rated Yagman as a "highly competent, dedicated lawyer who is a champion of unpopular causes".<ref>''Lawyers on Trial'', Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 380-83, 456, 457.</ref> | |||
| ''Cabrales v. County of Los Angeles'', 864 F.2d 1454 (9th Cir. 1988)(first case in which Los Angeles County jail system held liable for inmate suicide); | |||
| Yagman has tried over 200 federal civil rights actions to jury verdict and has argued over 150 federal appeals and certiorari petitions to the United States Supreme Court. | |||
| ''Children Who Want an Education v. Wilson'', 908 F.Supp. 755 (C.D. Cal. 1995)(California’s anti-immigrant Proposition 187 declared unconstitutional and enjoined); | |||
| ==Criminal conviction== | |||
| ''Crumpton v. Gates'', 947 F.2d 1418 (9th Cir. 1991)(an in utero fetus may sue police for killing his father once he is born); | |||
| Yagman was convicted of one count of tax evasion, one count of bankruptcy fraud, and 17 counts of money laundering, six of which later were dismissed by the judge, on August 23, 2007. Yagman was convicted of "attempting to avoid payment of more than $100,000 in federal taxes", and he was sentenced to three years in federal prison. Yagman also failed to pay "significant amounts of federal payroll taxes" for his then-law firm, Yagman & Yagman, P.C.<ref name=":1" /> Although Yagman claimed he was singled out as retaliation, an appeals court upheld his conviction. Yagman was disbarred by the State Bar of California on December 22, 2010.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.calbarjournal.com/January2011/TopHeadlines/TH7.aspx|title=Pugnacious civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman is summarily disbarred|website=www.calbarjournal.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-29}}</ref> | |||
| Yagman served 29 months in federal prison and then worked as a paralegal and UCLA Law School lecturer for 11 years before, at age 76, passing the California bar exam again and winning decisions from both the California State Bar Court and the California Supreme Court (unanimous) that reinstated his license to practice law, in 2021.<ref name=":1" /> He also was reinstated to the Bar of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by its chief judge, in 2021. He currently practices federal civil rights law and prosecutes cases for homeless clients, as well as for victims of police brutality, jail and prison abuses, and racial profiling.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |date=2021-10-08 |title=A fraud conviction ended his battles for civil rights. 14 years later, Stephen Yagman is back |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-10-08/off-the-grid-for-14-years-the-attorney-who-set-the-standard-for-civil-rights-law-is-back |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> | |||
| ''Cunningham v. Gates'', 229 F.3d 1271 (9th Cir. 2000)(elected government officials may be held liable personally for indemnifying police guilty of civil rights violations for punitive damages levied against them by juries); | |||
| Yagman, now 79, has resumed taking cases against police and the government. As class counsel, Yagman represents all of the homeless people in the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Santa Barbara, and the County of Santa Barbara, in five different putative class actions.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
| ''Dang v. Cross'', 422 F.3d 800 (9th Cir. 2005)(redefines basis for punitive damages against police to include infliction of oppressive conduct); | |||
| ==UCLA== | |||
| ''Diaz v. Gates'', 420 F.3d 897 (9th Cir. 2005)(''per curiam'')(''en banc'')(establishing principle that police may be sued under federal racketeering statute for injuring one in her employment), cert. denied sub nom. ''Parks v. Diaz'', 126 S.Ct. 1069 (2006); | |||
| In 2007, after Yagman's convictions, he was invited to co-teach and taught courses at UCLA Law School on law, morality, and social justice and on police brutality, with professor Frances Olsen.<ref name="dailynews.com">, dailynews.com; accessed June 23, 2015.</ref> | |||
| ''Erickson v. Knapp'', 938 F.Supp. 581 (C.D. Cal. 1996)(police may not seize news photographer’s camera without probable cause); | |||
| ''County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block)'', 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000)(defense attempt to disqualify Yagman denied: Chief Judge Alex Kozinski stating: “Stephen Yagman has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff’s advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent.”); | |||
| ''Fowler v. Block'', 2 F.Supp. 2d 1268 (C.D. Cal. 1998)(holding it unconstitutional for sheriff to continue to hold in custody person ordered by court to be released, in order to check for outstanding warrants); | |||
| ''Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld'', 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004)(first case to hold that Guantanamo Bay detainees entitled to petition federal courts for habeas corpus); | |||
| ''Green v. Baca'', 225 F.R.D. 612 (C.D. Cal. 2005)(imposing $54,375 sanction on police defense counsel for concealing 11,704 pages of reports from plaintiff); | |||
| ''Guerrero v. Gates'', 442 F.3d 697 (9th Cir. 2006)(plaintiffs’ excessive force claims are not barred by prior conviction arising from same events; loss of employment sufficient to state an injury to business under racketeering laws); | |||
| ''Hammer v. Gross'', 932 F.2d 842 (9th Cir. 1991)(''en banc'')(forced blood tests may not be administered to drunk driving suspects); | |||
| ''Hart v. Gaioni'', 354 F.Supp. 2d 1127 (C.D. Cal. 2005)(establishing right to sue in federal court for denial of right to access to sue in federal court by interfering with a plaintiff’s right to counsel); | |||
| ''Hawkins v. Comparet-Cassani'', 33 F.Supp. 2d 1244 (C.D. Cal. 1998)(holding unconstitutional use of 50,000-volt stun belt on prisoner who was before the court); | |||
| ''Idaho v. Horiuchi'', 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001)(''en banc'')(establishing right of states to prosecute criminally for homicide federal officials); | |||
| ''In re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct'' (''Judge Manuel L. Real''), 425 F.3d 1179 (9th Cir. 2005)(finding judicial misconduct because of judge taking action on improper communication from a party); | |||
| ''Johnson v. Campbell'', 92 F.3d 951 (9th Cir. 1996)(jurors may not be challenged because they are gay); | |||
| ''Larez v. Gates'', 946 F.2d 630 (9th Cir. 1991)(setting forth seminal standards for suing government based on having a custom of police misconduct); | |||
| ''Milstein v. Cooley'', 208 F.Supp. 2d 1116 (C.D. Cal. 2002)(there is a clearly established due process right not to be prosecuted based on fabricated evidence); | |||
| ''Moreno v. Baca'', 431 F.3d 633 (9th Cir. 2005)(suspicion-less arrest and search may not be retroactively justified by police subsequent to discovery that person arrested is on parole or subject to an outstanding arrest warrant); | |||
| ''Motley v. Parks'', 432 F.3d 1072 (9th Cir. 2005)(''en banc'')(parole search must be preceded by probable cause; unreasonable to point a gun at a baby while searching); | |||
| ''Standing Committee on Discipline v. Yagman'', 55 F.3d 1430 (9th Cir. 1995)(lawyer has right of freedom of speech to criticize federal judge and may not be disciplined for doing so, creating the so-called “Yagman Rule”); | |||
| ''Thomas v. Baca'', 231 F.R.D. 397 (C.D. Cal. 2005)(granting class action to over 500,000 Los Angeles County jail inmates who were forced to sleep on the floors without bunks); | |||
| ''Thomas v. Baca'', 514 F.Supp. 2d 1201 (C.D. Cal. 2007)(holding unconstitutional forcing jail inmates to sleep on floors without bunks); | |||
| ''Vanke v. Block'', 98-04111-DDP (C.D. Cal. 11-07-98)(granting class action to 22,000 Los Angeles County jail inmates, and issuing preliminary injunction that prohibited sheriff from refusing timely to release inmates who had been ordered to be released, but whom sheriff continued to detain to search for outstanding warrants).<ref></ref> | |||
| ==Writings== | ==Writings== | ||
| Yagman has written two |
Yagman has written two national legal practice books, ''Section 1983 Federal Jury Practice and Instructions'' (West Publishing, 1998, {{ISBN|0-314-22826-8}}), and ''Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions'' (Thomson Reuters West, 2002, {{ISBN|0-314-10293-0}}), a play, ''Guantanamo, Act IV'' (Beyond Baroque, 2004), and hundreds of newspaper columns.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} | ||
| ==Trivia== | |||
| Yagman did not learn to read until he was 12 years old<ref name="Los Angeles Daily Journal 1987, p. 1">''Los Angeles Daily Journal'', Profile, Oct. 26, 1987, p. 1</ref> | |||
| From 1962-66, Yagman was a lifeguard in Coney Island.<ref>''Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions'' (Thomson West Publishing, 2002), XLVII - LV, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Profile, Oct. 26, 1987, p. 1</ref> | |||
| Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, Black Panther attorney Charles Garry, and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.<ref name="Los Angeles Daily Journal 1987, p. 1"/> | |||
| ==Awards== | |||
| 2005, California Lawyer Magazine, CLAY Award, Yagman chosen as one of California’s top 41 lawyers for “extraordinary achievements, making a significant impact on the law, work has had a profound, far-reaching impact, and whose achievements are expected to have such an impact in coming years, and have changed the law, broken new ground, and substantially influenced public policy.” | |||
| 2002, California Lawyer Magazine, CLAY Award, Yagman chosen as one of California’s top 25 lawyers for “cutting edge work that helps the state maintain its reputation as a trendsetter, that shaped the law, the profession, and the way the law affects industry and the public, and who left a lasting impact on the way those who follow them will practice.” | |||
| 2000, Los Angeles Daily Journal, Yagman chosen as one of “Top 100 Most Influential California Lawyers.” | |||
| 1999, Los Angeles Times, Yagman chosen as one of “Top 103 Most Influential People” in Los Angeles. | |||
| 1996, People’s College of Law Clarence Darrow Award: “for renowned progressive legal advocacy, commitment to pro bono work, and tireless involvement in diverse political and human rights efforts at local, national, and international levels. Throughout the 1970’s, 1980’s, and 1990’s, Yagman has been engaged in progressive legal advocacy and has established legal precedent that has secured benefits to us all. The legal community across the nation can be grateful for the dedication and hard work that has been the hallmark of Stephen Yagman’s practice.” | |||
| 1993, Los Angeles Criminal Courts Bar Ass’n, President’s Award, “In recognition of zealous and dedicated advocacy and protection of his clients’ rights he has battled courageously against abuse of governmental power at the risk of great personal sacrifice and loss.”<ref name="yagmanlaw.net"/> | |||
| 1974, Guild of Catholic Lawyers, Jurisprudence Award.<ref name="yagmanlaw.net"/> | |||
| ==Sources== | ==Sources== | ||
| * ''Los Angeles |
* ''Los Angeles Reader'', “L.A.P.D. Death Squad”, April 10, 1992, cover | ||
| * ''Los Angeles |
* ''Los Angeles New Times'', “Cop Cruncher”, October 2, 1997, cover | ||
| * ''Los Angeles |
* ''Los Angeles Times Magazine'', “One Angry Man”, June 28, 1998, cover | ||
| * '' |
* ''California LawBusiness'', “Sympathy for the Devil”, November 6, 2000, cover | ||
| * ] and James J. Fyfe, ''Above the Law, Police and the Excessive Use of Force'' (Free Press, 1993), pp. 17–18, 146-64, 203.<!-- ISBN needed --> | |||
| * ''Los Angeles New Times'', “Cop Cruncher,” Oct. 2, 1997, cover | |||
| * ''Los Angeles Times Magazine'', “One Angry Man,” June 28, 1998, cover | |||
| * ''California LawBusiness'', “Sympathy for the Devil,” Nov. 6, 2000, cover | |||
| * ''Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions'' (Thomson West Publishing, 2002), XLVII - LV | |||
| * ] and James J. Fyfe, ''Above the Law, Police and the Excessive Use of Force'' (Free Press, 1993), pp. 17, 18, 146- 64, 203 | |||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
| {{Reflist}} | |||
| <references/> | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * - Official website | |||
| {{Authority control}} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Yagman, Stephen}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Yagman, Stephen}} | ||
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Latest revision as of 12:17, 5 July 2024
American lawyer
| Stephen Yagman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1944-12-19) December 19, 1944 (age 80) Brooklyn, New York |
| Education | Long Island University (BA) Fordham University School of Law (JD) |
| Known for | Federal Civil Rights; Constitutional Law |
Stephen Yagman (born December 19, 1944) is an American federal civil rights lawyer, who also handles criminal defense and habeas corpus matters. He has a reputation for being an exceptionally zealous advocate in cases regarding allegations of police brutality. He has argued hundreds of federal civil rights cases before a jury, and has been involved in over a hundred and fifty federal appeals and certiorari petitions before the United States Supreme Court.
Youth, education and early career
Stephen Yagman was born in 1944 in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York to working-class parents. His father was a dental mechanic and his mother was a secretary. Yagman attended Abraham Lincoln High School. After attending the State University of New York at Buffalo, he then graduated from Long Island University in Brooklyn.
Yagman received a B.A. in American History, with co-majors in philosophy and political science. He later earned an M.A. in philosophy from New York University, where his graduate advisor and mentor was Professor Sidney Hook, and his master's dissertation was on the Fifth Amendment's self-incrimination clause. He attended Fordham University School of Law, receiving a J.D. in 1974, where he was on the dean's list and received the Jurisprudence Award of the Guild of Catholic Lawyers. During graduate school and law school, he taught (English, remedial reading, social studies, economics, and Spanish) in the New York City public school system in Harlem and Bedford Stuyvesant, in Title I (lower socioeconomic) schools, from 1967-74. From 1967 until their divorce in 1994, he was married to Marion R. Yagman, with whom he practiced law for many years (1978-2021).
Legal career
Yagman's legal career began before he graduated, as an attorney-intern with the New York City Legal Aid Society. Yagman was mentored by former N.Y. City Legal Aid Society director Martin Erdmann, attorney Charles Garry, house counsel to the Black Panther Party, and U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. After graduating law school, he was appointed by New York State Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz to the office of the New York State Attorney General as a Special Assistant Attorney General, assigned as an Assistant Special Prosecutor for Nursing Homes, in the Manhattan office of the Special State Prosecutor for Nursing Homes.
In 1986, Yagman successfully challenged a proposed nationwide suspension of federal jury trials due to budget shortfalls, in Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 792 F.2d 1423 (9th Cir. 1986). In a unanimous opinion in a related proceeding, Armster v. U.S. Dist. Ct, 817 F.2d 480 (9th Cir. 1987), Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt said, "Yagman's vigilance in the protection of his clients' constitutional rights served all citizens. His fortitude and tenacity in the service of his civil rights clients exemplifies the highest traditions of the bar."
In January 2002, Yagman brought the first case seeking habeas corpus relief for Guantanamo Bay detainees, Coalition of Clergy, Lawyers & Professors v. George Walker Bush & Donald Rumsfeld, 310 F.3d 1153 (9th Cir. 2002).
On December 18, 2003, Yagman won the first case in which it was declared that Guantanamo detainees were entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in United States courts. Gherebi v. Bush & Rumsfeld, 374 F.3d 727 (9th Cir. 2004).
On November 12, 1997, Yagman was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi as Special Prosecutor for the State of Idaho to prosecute FBI sniper Lon T. Horiuchi in the August 22, 1992 Ruby Ridge killing of Vicki Weaver. In 2001, Yagman won a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declaring that federal law enforcement agents did not enjoy sovereign immunity and could be prosecuted criminally for state law homicide. Idaho v. Horiuchi, 253 F.3d 359 (9th Cir. 2001) (en banc).
In County of Los Angeles v. U.S. Dist. Ct. (Forsyth v. Block), 223 F.3d 990 (9th Cir. 2000), federal Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski noted that Yagman "has a formidable reputation as a plaintiff's advocate in police misconduct cases; defendants in such cases may find it advantageous to remove him as an opponent." Some of his most notorious cases involved the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Yagman lodged complaints of judicial misconduct against U.S. District Judge Manuel Lawrence Real which, according to one commentator, "were at the center of the controversy over the effectiveness of the federal judicial disciplinary system and exerted a uniquely powerful influence on subsequent attempts at reform." The United States Judicial Conference cited the Yagman disciplinary case in adopting its 2008 nationwide procedures for handling complaints of misconduct against federal judges. In his 2011 book, Lawyers on Trial, UCLA School of Law Professor of Law Emeritus Richard L. Abel rated Yagman as a "highly competent, dedicated lawyer who is a champion of unpopular causes".
Yagman has tried over 200 federal civil rights actions to jury verdict and has argued over 150 federal appeals and certiorari petitions to the United States Supreme Court.
Criminal conviction
Yagman was convicted of one count of tax evasion, one count of bankruptcy fraud, and 17 counts of money laundering, six of which later were dismissed by the judge, on August 23, 2007. Yagman was convicted of "attempting to avoid payment of more than $100,000 in federal taxes", and he was sentenced to three years in federal prison. Yagman also failed to pay "significant amounts of federal payroll taxes" for his then-law firm, Yagman & Yagman, P.C. Although Yagman claimed he was singled out as retaliation, an appeals court upheld his conviction. Yagman was disbarred by the State Bar of California on December 22, 2010.
Yagman served 29 months in federal prison and then worked as a paralegal and UCLA Law School lecturer for 11 years before, at age 76, passing the California bar exam again and winning decisions from both the California State Bar Court and the California Supreme Court (unanimous) that reinstated his license to practice law, in 2021. He also was reinstated to the Bar of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by its chief judge, in 2021. He currently practices federal civil rights law and prosecutes cases for homeless clients, as well as for victims of police brutality, jail and prison abuses, and racial profiling.
Yagman, now 79, has resumed taking cases against police and the government. As class counsel, Yagman represents all of the homeless people in the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Santa Barbara, and the County of Santa Barbara, in five different putative class actions.
UCLA
In 2007, after Yagman's convictions, he was invited to co-teach and taught courses at UCLA Law School on law, morality, and social justice and on police brutality, with professor Frances Olsen.
Writings
Yagman has written two national legal practice books, Section 1983 Federal Jury Practice and Instructions (West Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0-314-22826-8), and Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions (Thomson Reuters West, 2002, ISBN 0-314-10293-0), a play, Guantanamo, Act IV (Beyond Baroque, 2004), and hundreds of newspaper columns.
Sources
- Los Angeles Reader, “L.A.P.D. Death Squad”, April 10, 1992, cover
- Los Angeles New Times, “Cop Cruncher”, October 2, 1997, cover
- Los Angeles Times Magazine, “One Angry Man”, June 28, 1998, cover
- California LawBusiness, “Sympathy for the Devil”, November 6, 2000, cover
- Jerome Herbert Skolnick and James J. Fyfe, Above the Law, Police and the Excessive Use of Force (Free Press, 1993), pp. 17–18, 146-64, 203.
References
- National Law Journal, pg. 1, February 28, 2011, "Yagman unbowed, but getting on with life"
- ^ Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, “Attorney Tops Cops’ Most Wanted List”, December 19, 1988, p. 1
- ^ Los Angeles Daily Journal, October 26, 1987, pg. 1.
- ^ Yagman, Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions (Thomson West Publishing, 2002), XLVII-LV
- Fordham Univ. transcript, govt. exhibit 27 in U.S. v. Yagman, 06-00227-SVW (C.D. Cal.)
- Yagman official site; accessed April 18, 2014.
- Jessica Garrison, "L.A. Officials Know To Expect Attorney's Call", L.A. Times, March 22, 2006, p. B1
- ^ Lara Bazelon, "Putting the Mice in Charge of the Cheese: Why Federal Judges Cannot Always be Trusted to Police Themselves and What Congress Can do about It", 97 Kentucky Law Journal pp. 439, 455 & n. 103, 2008-2009.
- Lawyers on Trial, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 380-83, 456, 457.
- ^ "Pugnacious civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman is summarily disbarred". www.calbarjournal.com. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
- ^ "A fraud conviction ended his battles for civil rights. 14 years later, Stephen Yagman is back". Los Angeles Times. 2021-10-08. Retrieved 2023-11-15.
- Yagman invited to teach an undergrad course on morality at UCLA, dailynews.com; accessed June 23, 2015.