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Case against ex-Los Angeles County sheriff goes to jury
Source: Associated Press
Case against ex-Los Angeles County sheriff goes to jury
By MICHAEL BALSAMO
Mar. 13, 2017 6:49 PM EDT
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jurors began deliberating Monday in the federal corruption trial of former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca after prosecutors accused him in closing arguments of trying to stop an FBI investigation into guards who savagely beat inmates in his jails and then lied about trying to obstruct the probe.
A defense lawyer countered that Baca thought it was the FBI that committed a crime when agents had a cellphone smuggled to an inmate informant.
Attorney Nathan Hochman told jurors they heard "no evidence Sheriff Baca gave orders to obstruct the FBI."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lizabeth Rhodes said in her closing that "when defendant Baca learned the FBI and a federal grand jury was investigating, he obstructed and when he learned the FBI has turned its focus on him, he lied."
She said Baca's subordinates hid an FBI informant who was in the county jail from federal agents, moved him to other detention facilities and changed his name in the Sheriff's Department computer in order to thwart the probe.
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By MICHAEL BALSAMO
Mar. 13, 2017 6:49 PM EDT
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jurors began deliberating Monday in the federal corruption trial of former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca after prosecutors accused him in closing arguments of trying to stop an FBI investigation into guards who savagely beat inmates in his jails and then lied about trying to obstruct the probe.
A defense lawyer countered that Baca thought it was the FBI that committed a crime when agents had a cellphone smuggled to an inmate informant.
Attorney Nathan Hochman told jurors they heard "no evidence Sheriff Baca gave orders to obstruct the FBI."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lizabeth Rhodes said in her closing that "when defendant Baca learned the FBI and a federal grand jury was investigating, he obstructed and when he learned the FBI has turned its focus on him, he lied."
She said Baca's subordinates hid an FBI informant who was in the county jail from federal agents, moved him to other detention facilities and changed his name in the Sheriff's Department computer in order to thwart the probe.
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Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/25fd237895354cfa84b966f934c6ea97/closing-arguments-set-ex-la-sheriffs-corruption-trial