Posted at 11:05 p.m. PST Monday, October 30, 2000


Pleas delayed by Berkeley landlord, family
Judge resets landlord's hearing, makes it public
BY LISA FERNANDEZ
Mercury News

A wealthy Berkeley landlord and four relatives delayed entering expected guilty pleas in federal court on Monday, but only after media attorneys persuaded the judge to open her Oakland courtroom to the public.

U.S. District Court Judge Sandra Armstrong then set Feb. 6 as the date when she will take the pleas of Lakireddy Bali Reddy and his family, then sentence them. Because a plea agreement has not been finalized, it is unclear what punishment the Reddy family could face.

The decision to set a joint hearing early next year -- this one open to the public -- came after Roger Meyers, an attorney for the San Francisco Examiner, held an impromptu, phone-conference hearing with the judge and attorneys. With his voice booming from speaker phones, Meyers convinced the judge that even if a plea agreement fell through -- and the defendants went to trial -- a non-biased jury pool could be found in the sprawling Northern California federal district.

Meyers relied on several First Amendment cases to support his argument.

According to court papers filed Oct. 19, all five defendants had been expected to enter guilty pleas to visa fraud charges Monday.

The defendants are: Reddy, 63; his son, Vijay Lakireddy, 31, of Berkeley; his other son, Prasad Lakireddy, 42, of Lafayette; Reddy's youngest brother, Jayaprakash Lakireddy, 47; and his wife, Annapurna Lakireddy, 46, both of Oakland.

The whole family is charged with submitting false high-tech visas to import Indians over a 14-year period to work in their restaurants and many properties. The elder Reddy -- one of Berkeley's most prominent landlords -- also was charged in connection with bringing the underage girls for sex and cheap labor.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kennedy argued that he wanted the defendants to enter guilty pleas Monday so that he would have their testimony on record. But the judge allowed defense lawyers to delay the pleas, giving probation officers time to write up their reports, which will have a bearing on the defendants' sentences.

During the hearing to open the judge's courtroom, Reddy's lawyer, Ted Cassman, said he wished the proceeding had remained closed -- which it was for almost three hours as reporters hovered outside the courtroom door, some writing notes to the judge, others asking their attorneys to fax requests allowing them inside.

Finally, at 12:30 p.m., the judge allowed all the reporters to hear the arguments for and against keeping the proceeding a secret. Cassman said he didn't want the public to know the details of the plea agreement because of the ``tenor'' and ``sensationalism'' of media coverage in the case.




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Contact Lisa Fernandez at lfernandez@sjmercury.com or (510) 790-7313.