Reputed Gang Member Arrested Again on Gun Charges

Brian Patrick Ballou, a reputed gang member whose influential father and politically connected lawyers obtained a lenient plea bargain for him in a gun case late last year, was back in court Friday facing felony drug and assault weapon charges.

In an arraignment in Los Angeles Municipal Court, Ballou pleaded not guilty to an eight-count complaint that included seven felonies and one misdemeanor. Each felony carries a sentence ranging from 16 months to three years. He was in County Jail on Friday on a $125,000 bond.

His lawyer, Robert McNeill, and his father, Los Angeles lawyer Robert Ballou, declined to discuss the charges.

Ballou was on probation for violating laws against ex-convicts carrying weapons when he was arrested Wednesday.

The new charges include possession of two SKS semiautomatic assault rifles and a shotgun, three counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, and three counts involving possession, cultivation or furnishing of marijuana.

“This [the new arrest] was my concern all along,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Grosbard, who incurred the wrath of many of his colleagues by publicly raising questions about the way the prior case was handled. “Thank God nobody was hurt,” he added, referring to the assault weapon charges.

Det. E.T. Gibson said he is also concerned about the assault weapons and will continue to investigate the case.

Gibson said police made the arrest after they stopped Ballou for driving with a burned-out taillight. When they discovered he was on probation, they searched him and found a small amount of marijuana. They found more marijuana and the weapons, which were loaded, at his home, Gibson said.

Ballou’s father is a longtime friend of county Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Rep. Julian Dixon (D-Los Angeles). Ballou’s lawyers, the firm of Ivie, McNeill & Wyatt, are major campaign contributors to Burke. All of them, and Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, denied that political influence affected the earlier case.

In Ballou’s 1996 run-in with authorities, police arrested him on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and an ex-convict possessing a firearm. Despite the fact that witnesses identified him and his car in the shooting, the district attorney’s office filed only the gun charge.

The case meandered through the court system for two years and involved some of Garcetti’s most senior assistants. At one point, Burke called Garcetti personally about the case, and a member of her staff called one of his senior assistants. Burke could not be reached Friday for a comment on the new charges.

Grosbard got involved in the case when it was transferred to Pasadena, where he was assigned at the time. After reviewing the file, Grosbard felt there was a strong case for charging Ballou with attempted murder or at least assault with a deadly weapon.

In open court he said his office had seriously mishandled the case. By noting that Burke had placed a call to Garcetti about the case, Grosbard implied that there was political interference.

The case was transferred to another prosecutor when a Pasadena judge sent the case to the courts in downtown Los Angeles. But Grosbard’s supervisors ruled against filing the more serious charges.

After a story about the case appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Grosbard was called into a meeting with more than a dozen prosecutors and senior supervisors. Grosbard subsequently filed an official grievance with the district attorney’s office, charging that one supervisor “heaped verbal abuse” on him in front of his colleagues at that meeting.

No action has been taken.