{"id":78428,"date":"2017-08-23T16:18:38","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T23:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=78428"},"modified":"2017-08-26T00:47:09","modified_gmt":"2017-08-26T07:47:09","slug":"judges-reject-bacas-request-to-remain-free-on-bond-while-appealing-conviction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2017\/08\/23\/judges-reject-bacas-request-to-remain-free-on-bond-while-appealing-conviction\/","title":{"rendered":"Judges reject Baca’s request to remain free on bond while appealing conviction"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Lee Baca retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department in 2014 at the height of the federal probe. He had been sheriff since December 1998.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES – .An appeals court Wednesday rejected former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca<\/strong>‘s bid to remain free on bond while he appeals his conviction for conspiring to derail an FBI probe into corruption in the jail system <\/span><\/p>\n

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that Baca’s lawyers did not show enough evidence that Baca was not simply attempting to delay turning himself in to start serving his three-year prison sentence. The panel sent the case back to the trial judge in Los Angeles federal court to rule on new evidence Baca’s attorneys are expected to present to bolster the bond request.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The Ninth Circuit has denied without prejudice Sheriff Baca’s bail pending appeal motion, giving him the chance to show that his bail request is not for the purpose of delay,” defense attorney Nathan Hochman said. “We intend to provide the district court with ample and compelling evidence to prove this point as expeditiously as possible.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Baca, 75, was sentenced in May for his conviction on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and making false statements.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a nine-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson found in July that Baca had “failed to raise a substantial question likely to result in reversal or new trial.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Hochman said he plans to present evidence to show that a reversal is warranted based on judicial error and Baca should remain free while those issues are explored.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lawyer said Anderson erred in barring jurors from hearing evidence of Baca’s “cooperation” with both the federal probe and an independent county review board, and that the panel should have heard about the ex-sheriff’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Hochman also said that the use of an anonymous jury in Baca’s trial was a mistake that could result in a finding for a new trial.<\/span><\/p>\n

The appeals panel upheld Anderson’s denial of the bond request, finding that Baca “failed to meet his burden in demonstrating that he filed this appeal for purpose other than delay,” according to the three-page order.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Anderson again rejects Baca’s bond motion, Hochman said he would appeal to the Ninth Circuit for a second time, presenting additional evidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

During Baca’s two trials, prosecutors described the ex-lawman as being the top figure in the multi-part conspiracy, which also involved his former right-hand man, Paul Tanaka<\/strong>, and eight deputies who took orders from the sheriff.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prosecutors had asked for a two-year prison term, noting that they would ordinarily seek about four years, but took into account Baca’s age and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. During the sentencing hearing, however, Anderson excoriated Baca, telling him that if it hadn’t been for the ex-lawman’s health, Baca would have received the same five-year term given to Tanaka, the former undersheriff.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson told Baca his Alzheimer’s diagnosis is not a “get-out-of-jail card.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Baca — who ran the nation’s largest sheriff’s department for more than 15 years — was first tried in December on obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice counts, and prosecutors had planned a second trial on the false statements count. But a mistrial was declared after jurors deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquitting the former sheriff, and Anderson combined all three counts in the retrial. Baca did not take the stand in either trial.<\/span><\/p>\n

The charges stemmed from events six years ago when a cell phone was discovered in the hands of an inmate at the Men’s Central Jail. Sheriff’s deputies quickly tied the phone to the FBI, which had been conducting a secret probe of brutality against inmates.<\/span><\/p>\n

At that point, sheriff’s officials closed ranks and began an attempt to halt the formerly covert investigation by concealing the inmate-turned-informant from federal prosecutors, who had issued a summons for his grand jury appearance.<\/span><\/p>\n

The charges against the various sheriff’s officials involved a host of illegal acts, including a 2011 incident in which two sheriff’s investigators confronted an FBI agent in the driveway leading to her apartment and falsely told her they were in the process of obtaining a warrant for her arrest. Baca denied having advance knowledge of the illicit attempt to intimidate the federal agent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to the first trial, Baca had pleaded guilty to the lying count, but subsequently backed out of the plea deal — which called for him to serve no more than six months in prison — after the judge rejected the agreement as too lenient. If Baca had not withdrawn from the plea, he could have been handed a sentence of five years behind bars. He was then indicted on the three felony counts for which he was subsequently convicted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Baca became sheriff in December 1998 and won re-election on several occasions. He was poised to run again in 2014, but federal indictments unsealed in December 2013, related to excessive force in the jails and obstruction of that investigation, led Baca to retire the following month.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hochman said the jury should have been allowed to consider evidence of improvements Baca made in the training of jail guards to de-escalate problems and successfully deal with violent and\/or mentally ill inmates. Baca was not charged with any instances of jail brutality.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the 10 people convicted in connection with the Baca conspiracy case, 11 other now-former sheriff’s department members were also convicted of various crimes uncovered during the FBI investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/span><\/p>\n

Baca sentenced to three years federal prison<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Ex-sheriff convicted in federal corruption retrial<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Jury deliberations underway in Baca retrial<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Testimony concludes in Baca corruption case, closing arguments set for Monday<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Witness: Phone records, emails suggest Baca kept apprised of scheme<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Prosecutor blasts Baca for \u201cabuse of Power\u201d; defense lays blame on undersheriff<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Jury selection continues for retrial of ex-Sheriff Lee Baca<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Jury selection for Baca retrial to start Feb. 22<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Judge rules against Baca\u2019s lapel pin, cufflinks pending<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Baca to be retried on corruption charges<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Baca corruption trial ends in mistrial as jurors deadlock<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES – .An appeals court Wednesday rejected former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca‘s bid to remain free on bond while he appeals his conviction for conspiring to derail an FBI probe into corruption in the jail system A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that Baca’s lawyers did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":74961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}