Negotiations are continuing between prosecutors and defense lawyers to reach an agreement on how much time in prison former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca should serve for lying to federal authorities.
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Baca withdrew a guilty plea Monday and chose to go to trial on a charge of lying to federal authorities in an effort to thwart an FBI investigation into abuses at the jails he ran.
FILE – In this Feb. 10, 2016, file photo, former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca leaves U.S. Court House building in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016. Baca’s attorney, Michael Zweiback said attempts to agree to a plea deal with prosecutors had not been successful. At that time, among other denials by Baca, the former sheriff falsely claimed ignorance of the fact that, in 2011, two LASD sergeants were going to approach FBI special agent, Leah Marx, and threaten her with arrest, hoping to get information about the feds’ rapidly expanding investigation.
After withdrawing his plea, Baca told a horde of reporters on the steps of the downtown courthouse that he had done so because of “untruthful statements” made by the judge and prosecutors about his involvement in a scheme by sheriff’s officials to thwart the FBI’s jail probe.
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and his wife Carol leave federal court in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 1, 2016.
After discovery of the FBI mole who was trying to gather evidence of beatings, Baca and other higher-ups tried to derail the investigation, having underlings shuffle the inmate to different jails under different names and trying to intimidate an FBI agent.
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca returns to federal court on Monday facing a hard decision: Withdraw his guilty plea for lying to federal investigators or accept the likelihood of a significant stint behind bars. At a hearing on July 18, Judge Percy Anderson rejected a plea deal with a maximum six-month sentence, calling it “too lenient” and stating that it did “not fairly measure this defendant’s culpability”. “So if there was a possibility that he was going to go beyond his good years in prison, then he should go out and fight”.
“It’s one thing to lie”, Anderson said.
Baca, 74, was the county sheriff from December 1998 to January 2014, when he resigned under the cloud of a federal probe into corruption and brutality by county deputies. He was not accused of participating directly in the beatings and smuggling operation uncovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but allegedly gave his blessing to his deputies’ plan to personally intimidate an investigator and then lied about doing so.
To impose the penalty “would not address the gross abuse of the public’s trust”, the judge said, adding that such a punishment “understates the seriousness of the offense”. Baca’s second-in-command Paul Tanka has already been sentenced to five years for obstruction of justice. “It’s another thing entirely. when the chief law enforcement officer of the county of Los Angeles is involved in a wide-ranging conspiracy to cover up abuse and corruption”.
Anderson set the pre-trial hearing for September 6 and September 12, while a trial date has been set for September 20.
Outside the court, Baca explained why he is withdrawing his guilty plea and taking his chance with a trial.
U.S. Attorney’s office spokeswoman Tracy Webb would not comment. He announced in 2015 that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Baca’s condition will play a role in his defense because the “arc of the disease started well before” he lied to the FBI and federal prosecutors in 2013, Zweiback said. Baca lied to authorities in April 2013 and didn’t consult a physician about memory issues until a year later, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox wrote in a sentencing brief.
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