Categories: Briefs

Wright Guilty of Eight Felony Counts

Senate District 35 is based on nesting Assembly Districts 62 and 64. It includes the Los Angeles County communities of Carson, Compton, West Compton, Gardena, Harbor City, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lennox, West Carson, Watts, Willowbrook, and Wilmington. This district is characterized by a very high residential density, the Port of Los Angeles and the 110 Freeway which runs north-south through the entire district. Traffic and pollution concerns related to the Port are significant interests within the district. San Pedro and Harbor City are with the Port. The cities of Inglewood, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Torrance were split to achieve population equality.

LOS ANGELES — On Jan. 28, a jury convicted Sen. Rod Wright on eight felony perjury and voter fraud charges regarding questions about where he lived.

If two-thirds of the 40-member California Senate votes against him, he will lose his seat.

State law requires legislators to live in the district they represent. Prosecutors said Wright did not live in his Inglewood home, when he ran for office in 2008. Instead, he lived in Baldwin Hills.

Wright pleaded not guilty. Wright said he bought the Baldwin Hills home in 2000 to use as an office for his real estate investment business. Wright also said that he never registered to vote or applied for a driver’s license using the Baldwin Hills address.

He argued that during his run for the District 25, he was registered to vote and had possessions in the Inglewood home, which he’s owned since 1977. A woman, who he considers his step-mother lives there.

The court focused on the legal distinction between a “domicile” – a long-term home – and a “residence,” or temporary dwelling.

Neighbors testified that they routinely saw Wright at the Baldwin Hills house, while Wright’s tenant at the Inglewood home testified she had never seen him spend the night in Inglewood.