Times Article: “Defense of Necessity” Jury Trial Case
By Robert W. Stewart, Times Staff Writer
Three homeless men who lived in Justiceville, a Skid Row shanty-town shut down last May
…by authorities, were acquitted on Friday of trespassing charges filed after the
…Justiceville transients moved had moved to a vacant lot.
Ted Hayes, 34, a defendant and a one-time minister who organized the two settlements,
…said the Municipal Court Jury decision vindicates the ideals of his community for the homeless.
“It proves that we’re credible, and if we and our words are credible, then so are our concepts.”,
…Hayes said outside the courtroom of Judge Richard A. Paez….
…“This case should give the public more trust in us and at the same time, its going to give
…homeless people some courage, some hope, that we do have dignity and respect from our peers.”
Also acquitted were Wendell Grady, 30, and Walter Banister, 24, both unemployed Army veterans.
The three June 3 after they refused to leave the second Justiceville site at 3rd and Bixel streets.
Deputy Disappointed
“I’m disappointed with the verdict,” Deputy City Atty, Gloria J. Dabbs, who prosecuted the case, said,
…“I thought we proved our case, beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Defense lawyers had mounted a broad defense, even if their clients did not have permission to stay on the land,
…they were not guilty of trespassing under the legal theory of necessity—that they had no other place to go.
But the jury decided the case on the narrow issue of whether the defendants had reason to believe that the
…land owner was allowing them to stay on the property, the foreman said.
During the seven-day trial, Hayes told the jury that an agent for Stober Corps, the owner of the nine-acre
…Bixel Street property, discovered the settlement there and gave us his group’s permission to stay,
…at least temporarily, which the agent presented Hayes’ proposal for a long-term lease.
But the agent, Terry Lee, an employee of Richfield International Management Inc., testified that he told Hayes
…and his group to leave as soon as Lee found the encampment on May 30.
“We just thought that there was a reasonable doubt as to whether Mr. Lee did suggest, whether expressly
…or by implication, that they could remain on the property,” jury foreman Ken Yamate, 40, and Inglewood pharmacist, said.
Yamate noted four days lasped between Lee’s first contact with the homeless group and the arrival of police to evict the residents.
Hayes and 17 other transients moved to the lot on Bixel Street…
Please see HOMELESS, Page 3
(Unfortunately, the rest is missing. Working on retrieving it from the Times)