Prosecutor: Ex-Los Angeles sheriff led jail-abuse conspiracy
Source: Associated Press
Brian Melley, Associated Press
Updated 5:31 pm, Monday, December 19, 2016
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The former head of the nation's largest sheriff's department was the driving force behind a conspiracy to thwart a federal investigation into abuses at the Los Angeles County jail system he ran, a U.S. prosecutor told a jury Monday.
The conspiracy by ex-Sheriff Lee Baca and his aides deprived inmates who were beaten of justice and allowed deputies to escape accountability, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox said in his closing argument.
This was Mr. Baca's conspiracy," Fox said. "This was dirty from the beginning."
The longtime lawman is charged with conspiracy and obstruction of justice for acts his subordinates carried out in August and September 2011, when his deputies discovered an inmate with a smuggled cellphone was an FBI informant using the device to document abuses.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Obstruction-trial-of-ex-LA-County-sheriff-draws-10805380.php