Minutes after former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca acknowledged failing the public by lying to federal authorities investigating jail beatings, a judge overseeing his corruption case shocked a packed courtroom Monday by rejecting the ex-lawman’s plea agreement as too lenient. Under the agreement reached earlier this year with prosecutors, Baca faced a maximum of six months in prison and was eligible for probation. Anderson said Baca could withdraw his guilty plea.
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Before Anderson rejected the plea deal, Baca apologized in open court, saying he failed to be a leader.
A county eager to turn the page and move on under the steady leadership of Sheriff Jim McDonnell should be willing to wait until the justice system does its job and the guilty parties pay the price.
Baca’s attorney outside court expressed surprise at the ruling. Echoing the sentiments of many, the L.A. Times described the career of the man who was named Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriffs’ Association the same year he committed his offenses as “remarkable, albeit flawed”.
The federal charges against Baca arose in part from his statement to investigators in 2013 that he “was not aware” deputies planned to try to intimidate an FBI agent investigating jail violence by showing up outside her apartment and threatening to arrest her. I took that task seriously.
Baca led the nation’s largest sheriff’s office for 15 years.
Prosecutors also accused Baca of lying about his involvement in hiding a jail inmate from FBI investigators. After jailers discovered the phone and concluded that Brown was cooperating with the FBI, Baca ordered Brown isolated from the rest of the jail population, prosecutors said.
That Baca would order deputies to threaten the arrest of an FBI agent investigating his jails was an example of the former sheriff’s hubris.
In addition, Baca falsely claimed he was unaware that some of his subordinates had interrupted and ended an interview FBI agents were conducting with the inmate, who was working as a federal informant, prosecutors alleged in the court documents. He resigned in January 2014 during the probe.
When questioned by O’Connell about the difference in sentencing recommendations, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Williams said the cases were “apples and oranges”, and noted that Baca had turned himself in, admitted guilt and had not been accused of using excessive force himself.
Baca, 74, had pleaded guilty in February to a single charge of lying to federal investigators. Twenty-one former sheriff’s employees received federal prison sentences on charges ranging from violating the civil rights of jail visitors and inmates to obstruction of justice and conspiracy.
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“He accepted responsibility”, Williams said, adding that Baca’s agreement was “very favorable”.
