Opinion ID: 2624500
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Assault on Thomas Ryan

Text: On September 17, 1980, defendant assaulted Thomas Ryan, the attorney who represented him in the first trial, in the San Diego County Jail. Defendant had asked Ryan to visit him in the jail that evening. When Ryan arrived at the visiting room at 6:30 or 7:00 p.m., he sat down on a small stool and waited for defendant. Defendant entered the room, approached Ryan and began to hand him a set of papers. Before he could take the papers, defendant struck him in the jaw with what Ryan described as a very hard blow, a sucker punch, which knocked Ryan to the floor. Defendant said nothing. Before Ryan could get up, defendant turned and left the room. Ryan testified that during the 20 years in which he practiced criminal defense and represented 500 or more clients, 25 or 30 of whom were accused of murder, none had ever punched him in the face.