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Rejected 3 times: What now?

Costa Mesa city officials said Friday that they’re left with regrets after the state court of appeals closed the door on their case asking the judges to reconsider their prosecution of a Latino activist arrested during a 2006 City Council meeting.

In an order handed down Thursday, the state court of appeals declined to consider the city’s case against Benito Acosta, the Latino activist who accused city leaders of racism and targeting Latinos with their 2005 legislation encouraging police to enforce federal immigration laws.

Jones & Mayer attorney Dan Peelman, representing the city, filed misdemeanor charges against Acosta soon after the incident.

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The case was thrown out last year because Peelman had not been officially sworn in as a city prosecutor.

“It’s frustrating because I think they got it wrong, and it’s going to force a lot of cities to fix something that wasn’t broken,” city prosecutor Kimberly Barlow said.

A three-judge panel with the county’s appellate court upheld Judge Kelly MacEachern’s ruling twice, essentially putting to question whether any lawyer from a city-contracted law firm has the authority to act on the city’s behalf, or if the power lies with only specified attorneys.

Costa Mesa has since amended its city ordinances to spell out that all lawyers with Jones & Mayer can prosecute on behalf of the city.

“This really has never been about him or that case,” Barlow said. Her law firm has been appealing the case with the appellate court at no charge to the city since MacEachern’s ruling. “I still believe that the appellate panel was incorrect.”

Acosta’s time at the dais during public comments at a Jan. 3, 2006, meeting was cut short before he was arrested on charges that he disturbed the council meeting and resisted arrest.

What was lost in this case and the city’s repeated appeals since was what Acosta, who also goes by the name Coyotl Tezcatlipoca, was accused of. With MacEachern’s ruling in 2007, the city stopped arguing whether Acosta had broken any laws and instead found itself defending its contract with the Jones & Mayer law firm.

“I think it’s important for the public to know that the merits of this case have not been heard,” said Mayor Allan Mansoor, who’s at the center of the civil case.

Acosta has sued Mansoor and the city with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union, claiming that they abridged his 1st Amendment rights at the council meeting.

“Obviously, we’d like to see the merits of any case whether this or something else articulated in court and ruled upon,” City Manager Allan Roeder said. “While we may disagree with the court’s determination, we follow the process.”

Belinda Escobosa Helzer, the ACLU attorney representing Acosta, said the fact he was not prosecuted criminally has no bearing on their federal suit against the city.

“The civil case and the criminal case aren’t that different,” she said. “He had a 1st Amendment right to criticize the mayor and his policies. His defense was his right under the 1st Amendment. We’re not concerned at all. In the civil case, the truth of what happened will come out.”

Barlow, Costa Mesa’s city prosecutor, said officials will explore next week what, if any, options they have left for prosecuting Acosta.

The civil case is expected to go to a jury trial in February.


JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].

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