SANTA MONICA—Kenny Kahn is a criminal defense attorney in Santa Monica who has defended clients in greater Los Angeles for 30 years. But he is not your ordinary 9 to 5 lawyer.
From an early age and perhaps due to many life-changing experiences, Kahn learned to nurture a sense of humor. As a youth, he managed to overcome some of life's greatest challenges in an environment where only the strong-willed flourish. And later as a successful criminal defense attorney, he narrowly escaped with his life after being stabbed in the chest.
His reaction to such a life-threatening blow was not to quit and get sour, but to seek out more opportunities to share his humorous outlook on life. This included a satisfying stream of appearances as a professional stand-up comedian.
Kahn reveals his painful and turbulent childhood in his recently released biography entitled The Carny Kid: Survival of a Young Thief, by Pendant Press. In spite of his upbringing, he evolved into a highly-regarded criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles. He is known for using a candid approach to clearly explain and help individuals to more easily navigate the complex American legal system.
Kahn has made thousands of courtroom appearances and public speaking engagements. As a polished comedian, he gets the world to laugh at his profession with his unique, sometimes "Kahn-troversial" monologue and an unending supply of lawyer jokes. He has performed at such clubs as the Laugh Factory, The Comedy Store and The Improv and in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas, and New York City.
Kahn has been featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," profiled on "CNN Showbiz Today" and is still in demand for speaking engagements by audiences from coast-to-coast.
Kahn first gained nationwide notoriety when he defended Andrew Dalton Lee in an espionage case that became a feature film The Falcon and the Snowman.
"I had the Justice Department, the CIA and the FBI on one side, and me on the other," he said. "That was quite a challenge." Lee received a life sentence, but Kahn developed a reputation as a fighter who wasn't shy of the establishment.
Strength in Growing Up
Kenny was the oldest child of the only Jewish family in the Ramona Gardens housing projects in East Los Angeles. In The Carny Kid, he tells a gripping story of living with two delinquent parents who make their living as traveling gypsies and then graduate to dealing heroin from their cockroach infested apartment.
But if this was not enough tragedy for a young life, during the crowning height of his teen years in Lincoln High School he acquired polio. The ravaging disease quickly eliminated half the muscle tissue on the left side of his body, including his arm and leg.
With a teeth-crunching determination to get well, he endured the seemingly unending pain of forcing himself to do continuous sets of rigorous physical exercises. Eventually he gave up the crutches and lastly his walking cane.
Although his doctor absolutely prohibited him from playing competitive sports, Kahn managed to convince a reluctant football coach to at least allow him to do practice drills. His coach responded that he understood why Kahn was elected Lincoln High School student body president.
"Making the effort to practice and be a part of the football team definitely played a big part in my recovery from the debilitating effects of polio and helped lay the groundwork for my continued development," stated Kahn.
Kahn recently created "The Raymond V. Lopez Creative Writing Awards" that will provide cash awards to Lincoln High students for the first time this June. "The awards are named in honor of the most inspirational high school teacher that I was privileged to know," said Kahn.
Courtroom Violence
In a courtroom incident that sparked headlines in 1987, Kahn was sitting in a Torrance, California courtroom with his client who was awaiting sentencing for assaulting six police officers.
"We were reading the probation report when my client disagreed with the paragraph that said he may have violent tendencies," Kahn noted. "My client had been out on bail, and in an era before metal detectors, he pulled an ice pick and plunged it into my chest."
Growing out of this personal experience with courtroom violence, Kahn offers suggestions on how to improve security in the courtroom.
Kahn believes there are too many handguns in open view inside the courthouse and that law enforcement officers bring side arms too often to court proceedings. This creates an ever-present danger of having guns forcibly removed by desperate characters that are wandering the halls. Officers can find themselves alone in restrooms, the cafeteria or snack shops surrounded by gangsters.
"The lesson of the killings in an Atlanta courtroom, where a deputy was disarmed, illustrates vividly the problems in this area. "
Kahn suggests the use of cutting-edge technology options such as electrified dart guns and other non-lethal weapons.
"As far as I am concerned, it is time to eliminate the presence of handguns in the courthouse altogether," he adds.
Kahn also feels strongly that handcuffs should not be used on defendants in the courtroom as it unduly prejudices the jury against the defendant. Kahn believes that there is no way that a shackled person will get a fair, unbiased trial, because the defendant loses his aura of "presumed innocent until found guilty" while in shackles.
He believes that only in certain cases where the defendant is known to be an escape risk or has shown violence in the courtroom should they be shackled.
On Overcoming Addictions
Over the years Kahn has seen the debilitating effects of those caught in the web of drug and alcohol addicition. His own father died from a drug overdose.
"After 39 years of being surrounded by heroin junkies and defending addicts in court my conclusion is that the best program in the world will not work if the person who is the addict is not highly motivated to give up their addiction." He thinks the flip side of that is that any program will work if the person is motivated.
Kahn wishes he had a good answer to what motivates a person. The choice of whether one winds up in jail is a very high motivator. Another factor is the passage of time.
Kahn believes that there are not a lot of real old junkies and that most people give up their addiction by the time they reach their forties or fifties. Life is tough enough and trying to live with an addiction makes it even harder to get by. People eventually get tired of living at extremes.
Final Words
When asked what good quality he has applied to his work that perhaps grew out of his painful past, Kahn replied,
"I am totally non-judgmental. I don't care if they shot their grandmother," I will not pre-judge them."
This is what Kahn thinks makes him a desirable criminal defense attorney. He believes people seek him out because he always leaves himself open.
"There are plenty enough people to judge you, you don't want your lawyer to be one of them."
Find out more at: www.KennyKahn.com
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