Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca on Monday withdrew a guilty plea of lying to federal investigators, a decision that means he will face a trial and potential obstruction of justice charges. But a federal judge rejected that sentence last month as too lenient, saying it failed to address Baca’s “gross abuse of the public’s trust”. In February, Baca agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his knowledge of the scheme that became unofficially known as “Operation Pandora’s Box”.
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Baca informed the public that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease a year ago.
Doctors have said he’s in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and able to function.
After a morning of delays and last-minute negotiations, Baca told U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson he wished to withdraw from an agreement in which the retired lawman had pleaded guilty to a false statements charge, which ordinarily carries a possible five-year prison sentence. “Though Baca is lucid now, if his condition deteriorates rapidly and he becomes unable to understand the legal proceedings, he could be declared mentally incompetent to stand trial”, the Times wrote Monday. And that will mean additional charges, according to [Baca attorney] Zweiback, who said that the prosecutors had indicated that they would definitely add a charge of obstruction of justice and likely conspiracy to obstruct justice, the same two charges of which former LA County undersheriff Paul Tanaka was convicted.
Another risk in going to trial is that prosecutors have said they would seek a more punitive obstruction of justice indictment, Zweiback said.
Rejection of the plea deal created an awkward situation because federal court rules bar the judge from participating in plea discussions, Levenson said.
Anderson said it was “one thing to lie. another thing entirely” for the county’s top cop to be “involved in a wide-ranging conspiracy to cover up abuse and corruption”.
“I made this decision due to untruthful comments about my actions made by the court and the U.S. Attorney’s Office that are contradicted by evidence in this case”, he said.
FILE – In this January 7, 2014, file photo, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca announces his retirement at a news conference at Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau in Monterey Park, Calif. Baca signed a plea agreement that said he ordered deputies to intimidate an FBI agent and “do everything but put handcuffs on her”.
“I thank my friends and family for encouraging me to stand up for what is right”, Baca said, with a male supporter punctuating his words with “God bless you” and “We love you, sheriff”.
Baca’s deputies were also accused of attempting to intimidate an FBI agent leading the investigation by confronting her at her home.
Zweiback, a former assistant US attorney has been with his client through the lengthy plea process. That left the defense and prosecution in an unusual posture to blindly renegotiate a deal the judge might again reject. “While my future and my ability to defend myself depends on my Alzheimer’s disease, I need to set the record straight about me and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on misleading aspects of the federal investigation while I’m capable of doing this”. Baca, they alleged, ordered the inmate to be isolated, putting his second-in-command, Tanaka, in charge of executing the plan. In the plea, he acknowledged ordering deputies to do everything but put handcuffs on a female agent.
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He had been a sheriff since December 1998. The maximum sentence is five years in federal prison. Their appeal was recently heard by the circuit court in Pasadena.
