Activist Najee Ali, known as an outspoken critic of law enforcement, was sentenced to four years in state prison today after pleading no contest to trying to bribe a witness in his daughter's criminal case. Yes, we know that Najee can be a lot to deal with at times, but he has been a voice in Black LA that many people appreciate, us included!According to the Los Angeles Times, Ali, 45, was arrested and charged on March 11 with attempting to intimidate a witness and attempting to bribe a witness. The former gang member, now a community activist, allegedly tried to tamper with a witness outside his daughter's preliminary hearing at Alhambra Superior Court earlier this year, said Sandi Gibbons, a district attorney's spokeswoman.
The charges against Ali's daughter -- two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of leaving the scene of an accident -- stem from an incident involving her vehicle and a group of motorcyclists on the San Bernardino Freeway, Gibbons said.
Superior Court Judge Frederick R. Rotenberg sentenced Ali after the activist pleaded no contest to attempting to bribe a witness at the Alhambra courthouse. Prosecutors dismissed a count of witness intimidation. Immediately after the sentencing, he was taken into custody and placed in isolated detention at the downtown jail because of his notoriety, officials said.
Ali, born Ronald Todd Eskew, spent two years in prison for armed robbery before catapulting to prominence in 1998 when he helped mobilize public outrage over the case of Sherrice Iverson, a 7-year-old who was murdered at a Nevada casino.
Since then, he has emerged as an activist who transcends convention, protesting pornography in a Snoop Dogg video, urging blacks to work with police and speaking out on behalf of crime victims of every race.
Ali would have received two years in prison but "because he has a prior robbery conviction in 1992, it doubled in time to four years," Gibbons said. The judge also found that Ali violated his probation in a 2004 felony hit-and-run and perjury conviction and was sentenced to four years to run concurrently with the attempted bribery sentence.
"Mr. Ali has still not paid $29,240 in restitution in that case," Gibbons said.
In 2004, Ali was sentenced to five years probation and 1,000 hours of community service after he left the scene of a car accident. His vehicle had collided with another at Crenshaw and Martin Luther King boulevards, and he then ran into a nearby theater.
At the time, Ali was free on bail on charges of purchasing identity documents to apply for and receive two driver's licenses. Ali, who initially fought the charges, said he pleaded no contest because he couldn't afford attorney fees.
"I'm remorseful, but I don't think my actions were criminal," Ali said at the time. "If I'm guilty of anything, it's using poor judgment."
Ali was an outspoken critic of the LAPD following the televised beating of car chase suspect Stanley Miller in 2004, prompting a sharp rebuke from LAPD Police Chief William J. Bratton.
During a CNN appearance, Bratton called Ali "one of the biggest nitwits in Los Angeles," while scolding the CNN interviewer, whom he told, "You need to check out the credentials ... of some of these people that you choose."
Bratton later apologized for the remarks. That same day, then-Mayor James K. Hahn named Ali to a citizens' commission formed to examine the beating case.
Ali promptly resigned after city officials expressed doubts about whether he should serve because he was awaiting trial on charges in connection to the hit-and-run case.
Ali splits his time between an apartment in Baldwin Hills and a home in Chicago, where he lives with his wife, the granddaughter of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. Ali's organization, Project Islamic Hope, is funded by private benefactors, he says. He has no car, and gets around on the bus or by hitching rides with friends.
He also feuded with other activists and civic leaders. Ali in 2006 got a Superior Court judge to issue a temporary restraining order against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), accusing the congresswoman of threatening him.
Then Waters, not to be outdone, accused Ali of stalking her and got her own temporary restraining order against him. Ali also accused bodyguards for Nation of Islam Minister Tony Muhammad of beating him after a news conference in which activists called for clemency for death row inmate Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Ali told police that he called Muhammad "a liar" after which one guard "cold-cocked" him in the face.