The Fix Was In: A Six-Year Pattern of Judicial Bias in MMA Fighter Amir Rahnavardi’s Ventura County Case

When Judge Henry Walsh branded Muay Thai world champion and father of three, Amir Rahnavardi, a domestic violence perpetrator, it wasn’t based on evidence, it was built on bias. There were no visible injuries, no credible witnesses, and a series of police reports showing the alleged victim, Rebekah, had been the aggressor. Yet Walsh’s ruling would ignite a years-long legal war that exposed something far darker than a custody dispute—it revealed how Ventura County’s family court system weaponizes power and suppresses truth.

Judge Walsh’s conduct in this case mirrored a reputation already tarnished. In 2016, he was publicly admonished by the California Commission on Judicial Performance for improper courtroom behavior. But long before that rebuke, he had already set the stage for Rahnavardi’s destruction. According to 2013 and 2014 Ventura County Sheriff’s reports, deputies who responded to multiple domestic disturbance calls found no evidence of physical violence. One report explicitly noted Rebekah appeared “scattered,” “contradictory,” and “not completely truthful.” Officers documented that she declined medical attention and admitted the argument had been verbal, not physical.

Alleged DV injuries filed by opposing counsel (Exhibits 1–3).
These images do not show real trauma consistent with a “two-hour beating.”
They are superficial and inconsistent with the level of force alleged. These were the only photos ever used to claim that Rahnavardi “beat Rebekah for two hours.” They were never verified or authenticated, and it remains unclear whether any official police photos were ever taken. The pictures originated from Rebekah’s brother, who never appeared in court to testify or confirm them.

Actual fight/impact photos (Exhibits 4–6).
These show Rahnavardi’s real opponents from his professional fighting career—what genuine impact looks like when he actually lands a strike. The difference speaks for itself. Exhibit 6 (her hands) aligns with Rahnavardi’s account that Rebekah punched him, and that he then said, “Oh yeah? Let me help you with that,” using her own hands to strike his face. These photos reflect the truth, not Herring’s fabricated story.

Despite those records, Judge Walsh ignored the reports entirely and ruled that Rahnavardi had committed “severe acts of domestic violence.” His reasoning was as thin as the evidence he refused to review. In October 2021, former Ventura County District Attorney Ron Bamieh, who briefly represented Rahnavardi, put in writing what most attorneys would never admit on record.  After reviewing Judge Walsh’s ruling, Bamieh wrote:, “This is the type of ruling you see when men choke and beat women severely, and that was not the case for you.” Walsh rejected the defense’s expert witness, Dr. Nancy Kaiser-Boyd, who specialized in trauma psychology, and instead relied on controversial gender-theory advocate Alice LaViolette, whose testimony has been criticized in other high-profile cases for favoring female accusers regardless of evidence. Walsh also cherry-picked video clips over full recordings, excluded exculpatory footage, and issued a Statement of Intended Decision on September 11, 2019, which became the legal framework subsequent judges followed like scripture.

When the case shifted to Judge Michael Lief, a former Ventura County prosecutor and Navy veteran, any hope for balance disintegrated—and the injustice continues to this day. Lief has presided over Rahnavardi’s case since 2020, and for more than five years, his courtroom has been the epicenter of procedural abuse and judicial overreach. He suppressed over a year of journal entries, videos, and forensic evidence documenting Rebekah’s aggression, ignored 75 supervised visitation reports confirming Rahnavardi posed no threat, and dismissed the 2013–2014 police reports as “not relevant.”

Lief terminated sanctions motions without ever holding a hearing, blocked discovery that would have exposed collusion between opposing counsel and referee Leon Bennett, and continued to enforce supervised visitation even after every professional involved cleared Rahnavardi of wrongdoing. As of 2025, Lief still restricts him to seeing his children just three days a month for eight hours total, despite zero legal or psychological justification. Each new ruling compounds the damage—proof that Lief’s courtroom is not a place of justice but a mechanism of continued punishment. His ongoing interference shows that the corruption in Ventura County’s family courts isn’t a closed chapter, it’s an active crime against fairness itself.

The court’s appointment of Leon Bennett as a “neutral” discovery referee in 2023 turned bias into collusion. Emails from June 8–14 of that year, obtained through court records, reveal Bennett was in direct communication with opposing counsel Greg Herring and the forensic firm Verdict Resources. In one exchange dated June 14, 2023, Rahnavardi wrote to Verdict’s John Troxel: “I have court today at 1:30. Will you be available this morning 10:15–10:30 to do the credentials?” The message was copied to Herring’s entire team—and to Bennett. The discovery referee, tasked with neutrality, was quietly working in coordination with one side of the case. When this came to light, sanctions motions tied to Bennett’s conduct were abruptly terminated, and an independent forensic review of the digital evidence was blocked. Bennett’s actions were not judicial oversight—they were obstruction under the guise of procedure.

In 2024, the case was reassigned to Judge Joann Johnson, who initially appeared impartial. Johnson admitted a pivotal piece of evidence known as the “Becky Odum letter,” a typed document with Rebekah’s handwritten edits that switched voices between Amir and herself—an unmistakable sign of manipulation and fabrication. The letter exposed emotional and psychological control tactics that had underpinned years of false claims. But the integrity didn’t last. After a private meeting with Judge Lief, Johnson’s rulings shifted dramatically. She downplayed the letter’s significance and began echoing prior judicial language that aligned with Walsh’s original bias. Even the one judge who seemed committed to fairness eventually folded under pressure, confirming how deeply the network of control in Ventura’s family courts runs.

An internal analysis known as the Judicial Bias Scoreboard offers visual proof of that systemic prejudice. The dataset tracks rulings between 2019 and 2024, color-coded by outcome. Green represents rulings in favor of Rebekah; red represents those for Amir. The imbalance is staggering, nearly every one of her filings granted, nearly every one of his denied. Custody motions, sanctions, ex parte applications, discovery disputes, it didn’t matter. Across four judges and a referee, the results tell the same story: Ventura County’s family courts are not dispensing justice. They’re protecting each other.

The evidence suppressed in this case forms a damning archive of what the courts refused to confront. Police reports from 2013 and 2014 documenting no domestic violence. The forensic report proving iCloud and YouTube intrusions. An official L.A. Sheriff’s cybercrime report confirming data theft. Seventy-five supervised visitation reports showing safe, loving parenting. Letters from experts, including veterinarians and behavioral specialists—proving that Rahnavardi’s dog, Dusty, was never a danger to the children. Each of these documents dismantles the false narrative built against him, and each was buried to preserve it.

The cost of this judicial corruption extends far beyond one man’s reputation. It bankrupted Rahnavardi, destroyed his relationship with his children, and erased his right to due process. But more dangerously, it exposed how entrenched bias operates in plain sight—judges protecting their own, referees colluding with counsel, and evidence withheld when it undermines the predetermined outcome. Ventura County’s family court system has turned justice into a performance, and Rahnavardi was cast as the villain before the script was even written.

In the end, this case is not about custody, it’s about power. A father’s life was dismantled by a judicial machine more invested in maintaining its authority than the truth. What happened in those courtrooms is not an anomaly. It’s a warning to every citizen who believes the system still plays fair.