I called Deputy DA Richard Quinones last week to check in on the People vs. Chorny, which was supposed to be getting underway soon. Here's a little refresher from our January 2005 archives before we get going.

LOS ANGELES Three men were charged Thursday with felony charges involving 50 pounds of unstable dynamite found at a San Fernando Valley warehouse.

Authorities burned down part of the warehouse in the Van Nuys area after concluding that it was too dangerous to move the old, deteriorated dynamite. A portion of Interstate 405 was closed and train service in the area was suspended while the fire burned. About 50 people in the area also were evacuated.

In May 2006, Wurth pleaded out and the other two proceeded onward in the legal system.

VAN NUYS -- A Los Angeles man was sentenced Wednesday to three years in state prison and two other men were ordered to stand trial in connection with the discovery of unstable dynamite in a Van Nuys industrial building.

The judge found sufficient evidence to allow the case against Wurth's co-defendants, Arthur Chorny, 36, of Marina del Rey, and Guy Fostersmith, 44, of Los Angeles, to proceed to trial.

Just when it looked like things were going to get underway for Chorny at the Van Nuys courthouse, he done r-u-n-n-o-f-t (that's ran off, for those of you who aren't fans of "O Brother Where Art Thou?"). Quinones called me this morning to share the news and the LA Superior Court press office confirmed that the judge issued a bench warrant to track down Mr. Chorny.

Now I'm being a little light here, I realized. He may have a perfectly legitimate reason for not showing up. But it'll be interesting to hear what he tells the judge when they find him and get him back into court, that's for sure. We'll keep you posted.

Posted by Brent Hopkins at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's an odd twist in the People vs. Alvarez. As he's scheduled to come to trial in the next month for allegedly intentionally derailing the Metrolink 100 as it made its way downtown on Jan. 26, 2005, Juan Manuel Alvarez isn't doing so well.

The Glendale News-Press broke the story on Friday. Rather than showing up for the hearing, Alvarez camped out in his cell and refused to show up.

We don’t know why he’s not here,” attorney Michael Belter told the paper. “He reports to us that he has had some problems upon his return. His cell has been tossed, sometimes his blankets have been soaked. In his mind, he feels it’s better for him to stay in his cell.”

I've got an e-mail into Tom Kielty, Belter's co-counsel, asking for some more details, so we'll see if he cares to chat. According to the story, Belter says Alvarez has been on suicide watch and spent additional time in the jail's mental clinic. Given the circumstances of his arrest, an alleged suicide attempt that killed 11 innocent people in the process, I suppose it's not surprising that he's still got some issues, but this one still caught me off guard. Stay tuned for more... .

Posted by Brent Hopkins at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another dailynews.com wire service special....

A Northridge businessman pleaded guilty today to funneling tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer.

The contributions went to Clinton's political action committee and Boxer's 2004 re-election campaign.

Here's the whole thing.

Whenever this kind of thing happens, it's tempting to point fingers and call whomever received the tainted cash a bum. But whether it's Obama and Rezko or McCain and Keating, or Clinton and Norman Hsu, it comes up so often that it's difficult to find an unsullied candidate. In general, it seems like it's the campaign finance system that's the bum, but don't expect that to get thrown out anytime soon, unfortunately.

Posted by Brent Hopkins at 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Doug Dutton closes the doors of his bookstore on April 30, the city will lose an absolute treasure. This doesn't have that much to do with court stuff, I know, but I wanted to offer thoughts from my little pulpit while I had the chance while I'm on my lunch break.

Dutton's was the first bookstore I visited where I felt like a real adult. I went there in college with a very cultured older friend and immediately fell in love with the place. Its weird layout, its cafe, its boundlessly knowledgeable staff. There was seemingly nothing they couldn't find or didn't know. On that first trip, I bought my first book by a man who'd become one of my heroes, Richard Halliburton. When I got "The Royal Road to Romance" home, I knew I'd be back to Dutton's again and again.

And indeed, I did. Whether I needed Raymond Chandler or Michael Chabon, Dutton's never let me down. After his brother, Dave, shuttered his North Hollywood shop of the same name a few years back, I became an even more frequent patron. I didn't care if Barnes and Noble or Borders had cheaper rates, I kept going back for the pleasure of walking through the aisles. Plenty of times, I ran in five minutes before closing, not only to find the one book I wanted, but several others I didn't even know I couldn't live without. In my geekier moments, I dreamed what it would be like to do a book signing there.

Dammit, I even went there for my reporters' notebooks.

Last summer, Dutton's gave me one of my fondest literary memories when the latest Harry Potter book came out. My wife and I reserved a copy and showed up for the midnight release party, arriving fifteen minutes after they started handing out the highly-coveted books. And, man, what a scene.

Kids were walking down the street with their parents, dressed in costume. Adults were wandering back to their cars, so hungry for the first chapter that they read as they walked. Teenagers wore witch garb, twenty-somethings toted Gryffindor scarves and a man in a wizard hat sat, absolutely wrapped up in his book, out front, completely unaware of anything except for the text.

We got our copy and drove a few miles to Cafe 50's, where we found several other tables full of similarly dorky groups, all chewing through the pages. Over milkshakes and fries, Rebecca and I sat side-by-side and took in the first chapter. It was one of those moments that just made you feel good to be alive.

Dutton's wasn't the only one to have such an event-- there were gazillions of 'em across the world. But there, you always felt at home, whether you were reading Harry Potter or James Bond. I never felt embarrassed to ask for anything, because they'd know what I wanted and, often times, had read the book themselves. Stores like that are getting rarer by the week and each time one of them closes up, they're gone forever.

So thank you, Mr. Dutton, and to all the people who made that place what it was. You will be sorely, sorely missed and the literary world, the city and poor little me (in descending order of importance) will be far poorer as a result.

(Thanks to Kevin at LA Observed for sharing the sad news and ruining my day)

Posted by Brent Hopkins at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From dailynews.com, we've got this story about two local gents who swindled investors out of $2.5 million. That's a lot of money, even in the hedge fund world.

The founder of an investment company and an ex- securities broker are set to be sentenced today for their roles in a hedge fund fraud that bilked at least $2.5 million from investors.

From September 2000 to January 2005, Gilabert collected millions of dollars from more than 40 clients, concealing he lost most of the money and misappropriated much of the rest.

Courtesy of a wire service, here's the rest.

Posted by Brent Hopkins at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This will probably be the last time you'll ever see me posting off a TMZ story, but a colleague passed this along and it's pretty funny.

Madonna, it seems, has jury duty. The gossip site tells us that she showed up for court wearing a Juicy Couture track suit (locally designed in Pacoima, baby) and sipping some Starbucks. I don't know if that passes for the business attire that the Los Angeles Superior Court requires, but, given her other choices of attire, I suppose that's a good choice.

Something tells me the attorneys will challenge her off any jury, but who knows, she may treat her fellow citizens to a little rendition of "Love Makes the World Go Round" as they prepare to render their verdict....

Don't judge a man 'til you've been standin' in his shoes
You know that we're all so quick to look away
'Cause it's the easy thing to do
You know that what I say is true

(Thanks to Val Kuklenski for the tip on this one)

Posted by Brent Hopkins at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man, this reads like something out of a detective novel, but no, dear readers, it's very true.

Kazuyoshi Miura, 60, was planning a relaxing vacation in Saipan last Thursday. When he stepped off the plane, he didn't enjoy some mangoes, Levi's jeans or a bad Tom Clancy novel, all of which are connected to the US Commonwealth. Instead, authorities greeted Mr. Miura with an arrest warrant.

More than a quarter century after he allegedly murdered his wife, Kazumi, in downtown Los Angeles, the LAPD's cold case unit caught up with Miura. They've been waiting for him to leave his native Japan and set foot on American soil since 1981, and, acting on a tip, caught him in Saipan. They're discussing his arrest in a press conference right now. He faces murder and conspiracy charges.

The Times did a good story on this on Saturday, but, alas, their Web site is clunky and the only mention of the story now is a correction of the spelling of Kazumi Miura's name. So, instead, check out the Yomiuri Shimbun version instead.

Looks like even after all this time, Mr. Miura is in some pretty hot water. A court denied him bail and Japan is considering handing him over, even though he's already been acquitted on the charges there.

Posted by Brent Hopkins at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)