LOS ANGELES (AP) — A lawyer has told a Los Angeles jury the unschooled and illiterate former mayor of suburban Bell had no training that would have alerted him that his huge salary was illegal.
Attorney Stanley Friedman said in closing arguments Thursday that former Mayor Oscar Hernandez did not have a college or high school degree and did not even graduate from elementary school.
Hernandez is among six former Bell city officials on trial for allegedly misappropriating funds. He was earning just under $100,000 a year for the part-time job.
Friedman argued that financial advisers hired by the city could have informed Hernandez that salaries being paid to council members were illegal, but no one did that.
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