Retrial of former Los Angeles County sheriff gets underway

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 5:00 pm, Friday, February 24, 2017


LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal prosecutor says the former sheriff of Los Angeles County violated his pledge to shine a light on crime and instead concealed it.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox said Friday in opening statements he would show that former Sheriff Lee Baca obstructed justice and lied to federal authorities to thwart an FBI investigation into civil rights abuses in county jails. Baca is facing a retrial on obstruction charges after a mistrial in December.

Jurors deadlocked 11-1 to acquit the 74-year-old former sheriff in that case. His defense lawyer argued that Baca was not part of any conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Baca headed the nation's largest sheriff's department for more than 15 years before resigning in 2014 amid allegations that jail guards took bribes, beat inmates and falsified reports.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Retrial-of-former-Los-Angeles-County-sheriff-gets-10957893.php

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(Short article, no more at link.)

[tenorly]

1. Another Mike Carona?

Longtime So. Cal. residents might recall that Carona, who served as Orange County Sheriff through much of the '90s and Aughts, was eventually convicted on corruption charges and spent several years in prison (his numerous accomplices, however, got off - and some are indeed still sitting on small fortunes in ill-gotten proceeds).

Carona, btw, was frequently touted as a possible GOP gubernatorial candidate until his downfall in 2008. The die-hard bigots were especially fond of him.