Corrupt L.A. sheriff now faces 20 years prison

Associated Press (ap.org via mail.com); Pfc. Sandoval, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly

Corrupt, disgraced L.A. Sheriff Lee Baca announces his retirement at a news conference at Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau in Monterey Park, CA. Federal prosecutors have brought tougher charges against him days after he withdrew his guilty plea in a failed plea deal (AP).

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was indicted Friday on charges of obstructing justice and conspiring with underlings [like convicted L.A. Undersheriff Paul Tanaka] to derail a federal investigation into corruption and felonious police beatings of innocent detainees awaiting trial in the nation's largest jail system.

Ex-Los Angeles sheriff hit with stiffer corruption charges

(AP) The charges that carry up to 20 years in prison come just days after Baca withdrew a guilty plea to lying to investigators and said he would go to trial to "set the record straight" before he is incapacitated by Alzheimer's disease.

 

Baca, 74, made the decision knowing federal prosecutors were likely to bring stiffer charges, but his lawyers said he didn't have much choice when negotiations collapsed after a federal judge rejected a plea deal as too lenient. That agreement called for no more than six months behind bars.

 

I told you it was all Baca, says Tanaka.

Defense lawyer Michael Zweiback said it appeared the judge was seeking several years in prison, and Baca needed certainty because his condition has already started to deteriorate. "We have a very, very small window of time that we believe Mr. Baca's life will be normal," he said Monday. 

"If there was a possibility that he was going to go beyond his good years in prison, then he should go out and fight."

 

Baca is now facing the original charge of lying to federal authorities and new charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Defense lawyers had anticipated the stiffer charges, and said Friday that they represent punishment for Baca's decision to go to trial. More

1. VIDEO: Killer cops fire at car as it drives away
2. Jury: Ex-officer should serve [way more than] 2 1/2 years for manslaughter