that time... Mr. Cole did not believe that his actions were unlawful." Superior Court Judge Henry J. Hall ordered in February 2011, that no compensation be paid to city officials without approval from the court. Nevertheless, in March 2011, Rizzo, and two former councilmen, persisted in their claims that they were entitled to reimbursement from the city of Bell for their legal fees spent in defense against the charges against them, i.e., of defrauding the city of Bell. Former Bell City Attorney Edward Lee confirmed during a testimony in 2010 that he outlined the clause in Rizzo's contract that was intended to guarantee the former city manager defense funds "against any type of claim", according to the court papers. "All of the claims triggered a defense obligation from the city of Bell under Mr. Rizzo's employment agreement and he sent the claims to the city for a defense, but the tenders were all denied by the city", Rizzo's updated court papers attested. In June 2011, there was a hearing regarding Rizzo's request and the issue of intent in the employment agreement. Hearings A two-sentence order denying the petition was later signed without comment by Justices Dennis M. Perluss and Laurie D. Zelon of the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. In December 2011, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy rejected their motion to drop the charges and the contention that their salaries were protected by the city's charter. She issued an extremely critical ten-page ruling that completely negated the politicians' claim that they had no intent of, or knowledge they could possibly be, breaking the law. "The city of Bell charter," Kennedy wrote, "did not make Bell a sovereign nation not subject to the general penal laws of the State of California." On February 28, 2012, Judge Kennedy dismissed some felony charges against ex-Mayor Oscar Hernandez and two counts of misappropriation of public funds against former ex-councilman Luis Artiga. Hernandez and Artiga still faced charges of misappropriating funds in a separate case. The judge denied the motion to dismiss any charges against Rizzo and Spaccia. In her February 9 ruling, Kennedy stated that Rizzo "virtually ran this loan program unilaterally" and distributed at least 40 loans totaling almost $2 million between 2001 and 2010. In rejecting the dismissal motion by Rizzo and Spaccia, Kennedy said they "simply set their own financial terms awarding themselves huge raises