Union workers at Angel Stadium authorize strike

Workers at Angel Stadium in Anaheim voted Thursday to authorize a strike in response to a wage freeze instituted by stadium management.

The vote gives the workers’ union, SEIU United Service Workers West, the right to call a strike at any time, according to a statement from the union.

Anaheim Stadium workers -- janitors, ushers and ticket-takers -- are the lowest paid at any of the major stadiums in California, the union says. Attendance at the stadium, it says, is fifth highest in Major League Baseball. The Angels' baseball team payroll, the union says, is $140 million.

Stadium officials did not respond to a request for comment.

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 -- Sam Quinones

Photo: The dugout and stands at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Jury deliberates elections code violation case against judge

A jury has begun deliberating in the case of a Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner accused of offering to pay his only opponent to switch races so he could run unopposed.

Family court Judge Harvey Silberman, who was ultimately elected to Superior Court Seat 69 in the 2008 race, faces an allegation of violating the elections code by signing off on a proposal to pay the $1,787 it would have cost his opponent to run for a different seat. The code makes it a felony to pay or solicit money to dissuade someone from running for public office.

In closing arguments Thursday, a prosecutor told jurors that phone records and testimony showed Silberman had authorized his campaign consultant to make the offer to his opponent, Deputy Dist. Atty. Serena Murillo. Silberman was worried about running against Murillo because she is Latina, Deputy Atty. Gen. Zee Rodriguez argued.

An attorney for the judge, who has been off the bench since he was indicted in 2009, said whatever offer was made was the work of rogue, overzealous campaign consultants acting of their own accord.

Silberman’s two consultants, who were also indicted, have since pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and testified against their former client. The judge’s attorney, Shepard Kopp, contended that the consultants, Evelyn Alexander and Alan Steinberg, took the stand out of self interest and told jurors their testimony should not be believed.

If convicted, Silberman faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison.

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Stolen loot discovered in Kern County lake

An errant golf shot led to the latest discovery of loot from a theft ring that apparently dumped its booty into the murky shallows of a Kern County lake.

A suspect who may have ties to the thefts was arraigned on a separate charge of receiving stolen property.

Divers recovered a trove of pilfered goods July 20 from the floor of Four Island Lake in Bear Valley Springs, an unincorporated community west of Tehachapi.

The two dozen items included iPhones, iPods, GPS devices, a flat-screen television and power tools, such as sanders and chain saws. Also recovered was a 12-gauge shotgun.

While some items were in bags, the bags were not water tight.

Investigators suspect thieves were not planning a later salvage operation, but rather disposing of evidence, possibly out of fear investigators might be closing in.

For burglarized residents, investigators had good news and bad, said Sgt. David Watts of the Bear Valley Police Department: “The bad news is I don’t think it’s going to work anymore.”

“The only thing that would come in on that TV is Nemo,” and only if Nemo “swam in,” said Watts referring to the animated fish character in the film “Finding Nemo.”

The divers were supplied by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, whose divers frequently have the grim task of recovering human remains from oceans, lakes and rivers.

Jury deadlocks on charges against truck driver in fatal crash

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details.

The jury in the murder trial for the driver of a runaway big rig that killed a 12-year-old girl and her father two years ago in La Cañada Flintridge reported Thursday that it had reached verdicts on the two counts of second-degree murder, but was deadlocked on the lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sent the jury back to deliberate on the involuntary manslaughter charges against the driver, 46-year-old Marcos Costa, the Glendale News-Press reports.

The courtroom in Pasadena was packed with supporters of Costa, and family and friends of the victims, Palmdale resident Angel Posca, 58, and his 12-year-old daughter, Angelina.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carolina Lugo had argued that Costa acted with willful disregard for human life as he proceeded down Angeles Crest Highway and the truck's brakes went out, sending it barreling through Foothill Boulevard, striking several cars and crashing into a bookstore.

Costa's defense had portrayed the horrific crash an accident, one that he tried to steer out of despite losing control of the big rig.

The verdict marked the beginning of the end of a long chapter in which Costa was forced to accept professional legal help after a failed attempt to represent himself in trial. Testimony in the weeks-long proceedings included the scientific and the emotional as witnesses recalled the violent events of the crash.

One of them, Melissa Watkins, the bookstore's inventory manager at the time, testified that she and Costa locked eyes for a brief moment while the 25-ton truck barreled toward the store.

"I saw the horror on his face," she said. "His eyes were bulging out of his head."

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-- Jason Wells and Daniel Siegal, Times Community News

Photo: Marcos Costa. Credit: Times Community News

For the record, 6:02 p.m., July 28: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated in the text and the headline that the jury was hung on the second-degree murder charges. The jury is deadlocked on involuntary manslaughter charges.

California Supreme Court to hear Proposition 8 case Sept. 6

The  legal battle over Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that reinstated a ban on same-sex marriage, will go before the California Supreme Court on Sept. 6, when the justices will hear arguments on whether initiative proponents are entitled to defend measures they sponsored.

The state high court scheduled the hearing for 10 a.m. at its San Francisco courtroom. The justices will then have 90 days to decide whether state law gives proponents of ballot measures like Proposition 8 legal standing to defend them in court when state officials refuse to do so.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has postponed a decision on the marriage ban's constitutionality pending clarification of state law by the California court. If the federal appeals court determines the opponents of gay marriage lack the right to appeal last August's ruling against Proposition 8, that ruling would likely become law.

California's top court has traditionally given wide latitude to initiative sponsors but has never before ruled on whether they can take the place of state officials in appealing court decisions. State officials have refused to defend Proposition 8.

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Lady Gaga fans line up early for Hollywood concert

-- Maura Dolan

Your commute: Live L.A. traffic conditions

Lady Gaga fans line up early for Hollywood concert

Hundreds of people lined up early Thursday along Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in the hopes of getting a glimpse and maybe an autograph from Lady Gaga.

The pop diva is scheduled to perform a concert at 7:30 p.m. and tape an appearance on the late-night talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live" -- which is filmed at the El Capitan Theater across the street from Grauman’s Chinese Theater, where a DJ's would-be block party got out of hand Wednesday night.

Dozens of police officers -- including 20 authorized to work overtime -- were on patrol in advance of Lady Gaga's appearance. The area was still recovering from disturbances the previous evening between police and thousands of people who showed up for a promised block party outside the premiere of a film about the Electric Daisy Carnival music festival.

Some Lady Gaga fans said they’d been in line since 4 a.m. Damien Hamlin drove from Bakersfield, arriving at 10 a.m.

“I love Lady Gaga for her message,” said Hamlin, 17. “Her shows are life-changing.”

Concert organizers had blocked off Hawthorn Avenue, parallel to Hollywood Boulevard, next to a parking lot where the concert is to take place. Promoters were expecting 2,000 people -- up from an original estimate of 1,000, most of whom had been given free tickets through radio and online promotions.

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-- Sam Quinones

Photo: Michael Adame, left, and Edgar Sandoval came from Orange County to attend Lady Gaga's Thursday night concert. Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times