Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca will stand trial – again – and this time he can’t do it wearing the lapel pin that honored his former agency.
Jury selection in Baca’s case will begin Feb. 21 in federal court in downtown Los Angeles, where he’s been charged on three counts: obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements, which stem from an investigation into inmate abuse inside the Men’s Central Jail in 2011.
The trial will mark a return for Baca. In December, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson declared a mistrial after a jury couldn’t decide unanimously if Baca was guilty on the counts of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Jurors were split 11-1 in favor of acquitting the former sheriff.
In court documents, Baca’s attorney, Nathan Hochman argued that those two counts should be dropped from the upcoming trial, saying that given more time, the jury could have reached a unanimous decision.
In a 12-page motion filed last month, Hochman said the court did not re-read the “reasonable doubt” instructions to the jury, among other options. Hochman said Baca was denied of his “valued right” to be tried by a particular jury.
Anderson ruled against it and said jury selection would beginning next week.
But it was a six-pointed, star-shaped lapel pin worn by Baca that became the focus among several arguments made during the 90-minute hearing Monday.
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Federal prosecutors argued that Baca should not wear a Sheriff’s ‘star’ lapel pin while he’s in court, as well as cuff links. In a 19-page motion, prosecutors argued that Baca’s pin could mislead the jury. They also said that while Baca didn’t testify in his last trial, the pin makes him appear like he has the support of the Sheriff’s Department.
“There is nothing proper about defendant wearing his pin, which defendant donned every day during his initial trial, in full view of the jury,” prosecutors wrote in their motion. “It is no secret that defendant is the former Sheriff, but in wearing the Sheriff’s “star” every day of trial, defendant was cloaking himself in the aura of credibility and respectability that comes with holding that office. Moreover, defendant’s pin signaled to the jury that he and the Sheriff’s Department are one and the same, even today, and that the County and the Sheriff’s Department sanction his acts that are charged as obstruction (which they do not).”
But Hochman said jury members seated at least 20 feet away from Baca won’t likely make out the pin.
“He wears a pin because he always wears a pin,” Hochman said. “I do not believe a 1-inch lapel pin in any way prejudices his right to a fair trial,” Hochman said.
Anderson disagreed, saying the defense didn’t provide a good enough reason for Baca to wear the pin.
“The court orders the defendant not to wear that lapel pin in the upcoming trial,” Anderson said.
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Prosecutors also objected to Baca presenting testimony that he had done good acts while serving as sheriff, including having a specialist teach deputies how to use “wrestling moves,” that are less likely to hurt inmates as well as implementing an Office of Independent Review to oversee the department. Anderson agreed, saying that those two issues were irrelevant to the case, adding “it has nothing to do with unprovoked and totalitary violence” in the jails.
One issue still pending is if whether or not a mental health expert invited by the defense will be allowed to testify. Dr. James Spar is expected to say former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease while being questioned by federal investigators about inmate abuse in 2013.
After Monday’s hearing, Baca stood outside the courthouse without the star shaped lapel pin. Reporters asked Hochman if it seemed the rulings made during the hearing favored the prosecution.
“We’re looking forward, as we did the first time, to a fair trial with a fair jury,” Hochman would only say.
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