Willie Brown Details Involvement In Defending Tech CEO In Domestic Violence Case
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Former state Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown responded to a report about his involvement in the domestic violence case against a tech executive during an interview Friday morning on KCBS Radio.
Brown spoke with political reporter Phil Matier about helping former RadiumOne CEO Gurbaksh Chahal, who met with Brown in December 2013 amid charges Chahal beat and kicked his then girlfriend in a prolonged attack that was reportedly recorded on Chahal's home security video system.
In April 2014, a judge ruled the video inadmissable as evidence because it was seized without a warrant. Days later, Chahal pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges and received probation and a $500 fine.
Five months after his guilty plea, another woman accused Chahal of repeatedly kicking her, the San Francisco Business Times reported. He was arrested on the charges in October and a hearing to determine whether Chahal's probation should be revoked was scheduled for Friday.
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The Wall Street Journal reported former state controller and RadiumOne board member Steve Westly had urged Chahal to meet with Brown in the 2013 case, saying Brown could get the district attorney to back off. The Journal said Chahal met with Brown and later emailed Westly saying Brown would take $1 million to make his case "go away" and that Chahal had paid Brown a $250,000 retainer.
Days after the judge's ruling on the video evidence, Brown returned $198,400 of Chahal's retainer, the Journal reported.
During his interview with Matier Friday morning, Brown offered details on his involvement in Chahal's case:
Willie Brown: We were asked to put together a legal team to defend this particular person who was accused (of) 47 counts of domestic violence, very serious as a matter of fact, you could probably go to jail for the rest of your life if you were so convicted …
It was whether or not a guy in his 30s might be spending the rest of his life in jail. We did put together a fabulous defense team, under, you know, the canons of ethics, and all the things that go with lawyers and privacy and confidentiality. I can't walk you through everything, but we followed all the rules and regulations and saved him.
Phil Matier: Part of this is the emails that were obtained by the Wall Street Journal … from Mr. Westly to the defendant, saying that Mayor Brown knows the district attorney and, quote, may be able to back him off the charges and help the charges go away.
WB: I think that's something you oughtta discuss with Mr. Westly. That's not Mr. Brown. I don't do emails.
PM: Did you say you could make the charges go away for a million bucks?
WB: I would tell you that one would be out to lunch if they said they could make anything go away, period. You could walk through all of the facts and figures that you have and you could say the conclusion can be, but you cannot say with any degree of accuracy, of honesty you could make anything go away.
PM: Did you meet with (District Attorney) George Gascon to try and talk about the case?
WB: Well, you don't meet with just the district attorney. You put together a whole team of your people, they put together a team of their people, in every criminal case practically, and you literally meet and you walk through item, by item, by item, hoping to achieve the goal. In this case, it was one of whether or not evidence could be admitted, and if it could not be admitted, then the district attorney probably would not have a case. You want to make that case to the DA and not necessarily wait to make it to a judge.
PM: But it wound up going in front of a judge.
WB: Ultimately because the district attorney's office, through the various people who handled the representation, were unable to convince the district attorney – because politically, you know, when you start dismissing things like domestic violence, you really are running the risk on your re-election, of having people raise questions about your judgment.
PM: So the case went in front of a judge ...
WB: That's right, and the judge did exactly what we, the lawyers, had said, and that was that there are reasons why this evidence can't be admitted. And so the evidence could not be admitted, case closed.
PM: OK, so, question - you refunded $198,000 of your $250,000 fee? Why?
WB: Because I didn't do the work for it. That's right. You do it by the hours, Phil.
PM: What did you do for $50,000?
WB: No, I didn't get $50,000. I had a whole team of lawyers. There were five or six of us who were involved and each of them were paid, period.
PM: How much did you get?
WB: I got under 20, I think.
PM: Well, lemme ask you - former mayor, former speaker of the assembly, why get involved in a case like this? Domestic violence – this is ugly.
WB: Well, everything involving criminal cases are ugly, not just domestic violence. Everyone's involved. And believe me, not unlike in the world of medicine, you take your cases based upon whether or not your clients (have) a plausible way to avoid persecution, or prosecution as people would call it, and further whether or not he can afford you.
Carlos E. Castañeda is Senior Editor, News & Social Media for CBS San Francisco and a San Francisco native. You can follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
