Former LA County Sheriff - Leroy Baca - Rescinded Guilty Plea. Facing Trial in September..

One of the most powerful lawman ever in California reverses guilty plea and vows fight for his innocence.

Born on May 27th 1942 Leroy Baca is the Former LA County Sheriff who took over from Sherman Block in 1998 until his retirement in 2014.  He started as a Deputy with the LASD (Los Angeles Sheriff Department) in 1965 and served 49 years protecting and serving the community.
'Lee' Baca is a Republican and has opposed California's Proposition 8.

In August of 2011 a scandal broke out in the Men's Central Jail.  A cell phone had been smuggled in illegally to an inmate who was an FBI informant.  This event went down in history as one of the biggest scandals the LASD has ever had.  Lee Baca was the Sheriff of Los Angeles County at that time.

After a number of investigations took place, trying to find out why and who had smuggled the phone in, the plot thickened.  Since then, there have been trials, arrests, convictions and plea deals.  Today Lee Baca has learned that he will face his own Trial which is due to begin in September of this year.

Without saying anymore here, as I will save that for my book, I will continue with the events of current day:

I arrived at 7.25am, there was a line around the corridors from Dept. 19 of everyone waiting to get in with all the other reporters and spectators.  Close to 8.25 the doors were opened and we started to file in the door.
Lee Baca came in, walking slowly with his very elegant wife and his 2 lawyers beside him.  I looked at him and he gave me a smile of recognition and reached out his hand to shake mine.  I think he could read my face very well and could see that I was there to support him.  I shook his hand with both of mine and said "God Bless you Lee and good luck today."  He smiled and nodded and then said brief hellos to other people in line whom he knew.  He seemed frail but still as kind and gentle as I've always known him to be.  He wore a striped grey suit, white shirt, pink silk tie and handkerchief in his left pocket to match.  He, as always was wearing his Sheriff badge pinned to his left lapel.  He looked like he'd just stepped out of GQ magazine, very well put together.

At 8.30am we were all seated in Dept. 19 of the Spring Street Federal Court.   This Courtroom is assigned to Judge Percy Anderson (picture on the right)
who is nicknamed 'No Mercy Percy' due to his ruthlessness shown to anyone who is not Federal.  I sat in the second row next to Zohreen Adamjee from Fox 11 and an unknown gentleman on my left.

After we 'all rose' when Judge Anderson walked in, the two
Defense lawyers representing Lee Baca - Nathan Hochman and Michael Zweiback (picture below) - stood up and walked over to the podium with Baca.

They had been given 2 weeks by Judge Anderson to make one of two choices:
Rescind his plea of guilt and face Trial
or
Accept the Sentence that the Judge would give him today.

The lawyers explained how they would like to go to sidebar to discuss one final issue before stating their decision.  Baca returned to his seat, hands clasped in front of him and facing the side wall in front of him while his lawyers walked over to the sidebar with Judge Anderson and the Prosecution/the USA which consisted of Brandon Fox, Liz Rhoades and the same man who was for the Prosecution last time.  I will write down his name when I can remember it.

His wife of almost 20 years, Carol Baca, looked over and smiled at me and I smiled back and put my hand on my heart to show her my support.  Lee Baca just sat there, slightly shifting in his chair and with his profile to the Gallery.  It was clear that he was very uncomfortable as anyone would be in his situation.  All of us in the Gallery tried to hear what was going on and we strained to eavesdrop to no avail.  All we could see was Judge Anderson waving his arms and giving the odd smile.  Never a good thing as his smile would not be a smile reciprocated by the Defense.

After about 4 minutes of Baca facing the wall, he swung his chair slightly to his left, facing the back wall where they were at sidebar.  He was also trying to listen in but to no avail as they were speaking so quietly and it is a big room.   7 or 8 minutes went by and they all returned back to their seats.  Mr Zweiback and Mr Hochman were talking intensely with their client.  Side bar was requested again for the second time and the same thing happened, a lot of whispering that no-one could hear, the Judge was looking at the clock and motioning with his hands in an outward direction and none of us had a clue what was going on.

They all returned to their seats at 9.28am and the Judge then announced that we would be taking a 4 hour recess.... (whatttttt????) ... and will be returning at 1.30pm to resolve the issue of what Baca's lawyers have decided to go with.   I went outside and sat on the wall outside the Courthouse in the shade and talked to some of the media who were also having to hang out for 4 hours.

After about an hour a man in a suit walked down the steps of the Courthouse.  It was Judge Percy Anderson in his own clothes and without the robe.  I hardly recognized him outside of the Courtroom and not wearing his robe.  He was shorter than I would have thought, my height I would guess, probably 5ft 9".  I really wanted to take a picture of him to post on here (and hopefully for my future book).  So,  as he was walking, I stood up from the wall and asked him very nicely, "Judge Anderson could I please take your picture"?  He kept walking and didn't respond for a few seconds, then he shook his head slowly responding with a "No".

I realized  that one of the main reasons that the Judge was so aloof with me was probably because I was wearing my Sheriff badge and also Sheriff necklace very blatantly (and proudly) for all to see.  Not a Department he seems to like very much.  I won't say anymore here.  The Judge was obviously on his way to lunch (later I found out he went to Subway), so I stayed there to catch him on his way back and see if he would change his mind.   After 40 minutes he started walking back, the media person told me that he was about to cross over at the light on our side of the street, then he darted in to the garage part of the Court so he wouldn't have to deal with me asking that question again.  So if you wonder why I posted an older black and white picture of him above, it's because he wouldn't let me take an up to date one of him walking down Spring street.

I wish I had brought my computer with me so I could have typed this in those 4 hours, but I had no idea we would be breaking at all, let alone for such a long time.

At 1.10pm the line had already started and wound it's way around the corridor, so I decided to stand back in the line again and wait to be let in.  We went in, in groups of 10 people.  The press went first and everyone pushed me to go in with the press, but I am not 'the press'!  I am not 'the media'!  I don't want to be either one especially because if I was I would not have been able to get the 'exclusive interviews' that I have been and am able to get by making sure that the interviewee knows that "I am not the media/press"!  Therefore I am more trusted and I have never abused that trust with any of my subjects/interviewees.  In this case regarding the numerous LASD Trials, I am covering them for a variety of reasons, one of them will hopefully be for writing my 5th book, once my Publisher commissions me for it of course.

We were all seated by 1.25pm, I was seated in the second row again towards the left side as much as I could be.  My reason for that is the left rows of seats are family members and friends of Lee Baca and the right side of the room are seats for the Prosecution/the FBI side.  The middle section is usually for reporters, independent writers/journalists/film makers (which is the group I chose to sit with) and various people unknown to me.  I could've sat on the left side of the room too if I had wanted to but the view is much better in the middle section and it is easier to hear because the Judge's voice is so quiet.

Lee Baca came in with his lawyers (picture on the left courtesy of the Daily News) and they all took their seats.  USA/the Prosecution also took their seats on the other side.  Before the Judge came in, Baca got up and walked over to his wife who was seated on the left side in the front row and asked her something to which she responded with a nod.  I haven't a clue what was said.  He sat down again.  We then all rose when Judge Anderson entered the room, led in by his Clerk, Steve, who is a very nice man.   He's certainly been very nice to me over these past few years when he's spoken to me at the various LASD Trials that I have attended in his Courtroom.

Everyone sat back down and each side stated who they were by stating their full names.  We began with Michael Zweiback stating that as they had 'failed in making a resolution and due to Baca's health condition they cannot proceed to sentencing today and that they wish to 'Withdraw the guilty plea'. The Judge looked at Baca, who was standing straight up like soldier at the lectern (podium) with both his lawyers beside him: "Mr Baca do you wish to withdraw your guilty plea"?
To which he responded: "Yes Your Honour"!
The Judge set the date for Trial to begin on September 20th 2016 with the Pre-Trial set for September 12th.
Mr Zweiback went on to state that as 'The Government' (the Prosecution) have given them one terabyte of data to go through by then, more time would most likely be needed.

We adjourned for the day and left the building.  I wanted to film Baca and his lawyers as they left the Courthouse and I did so right up to the part where Baca started to make his statement

He introduced his lawyers and spoke in a very strong yet gentle voice explaining who he is and what he was facing.  His statement is here




















What amazed me is the strength Baca showed when admitting/owning his debilitating disease.  Most people I know with Alzheimers are usually in denial.  This, yet again, shows me what an honest man he is and always has been.  After he made this statement he was whisked off in a waiting SUV, with about 5 men and his wife beside him.  I managed to give him a hug and tell him that he has many supporters in the Department and I am here for them as they cannot.  He looked at me in a very genuine way and thanked me knowing that I meant every word I said.

Right afterwards Michael Zweiback spoke about Baca's Alzheimer's Disease and 'how it had progressed'.  Many reporters asked questions regarding his disease to which Zweiback stated that his client is 'impaired'.  "He is beyond mild cognitive impairment and has short term memory loss.  It is a progressive neurological disease therefore his physical and mental capabilities will diminish".  He also stated that he had the beginnings of the disease in March of 2013 when he spoke to the FBI.

I feel a lot of the mitigating factors will be his Alzheimers disease along with the fact that he put Paul Tanaka in charge (and entrusted him) to deal with the cell phone which was illegally smuggled in to the jail to an FBI Informant.

By withdrawing his guilty plea today, Baca might now be facing more charges than the one he had originally admitted to which was: 'making a false statement to a Federal Agent/the FBI'.  On February 10th of this year Baca settled for a guilty plea by admitting that he had lied to Federal Authorities and the US Attorney's Office when he claimed he did not know that the LASD were going to intimidate (some use the word 'threaten') an FBI Agent back in 2011.  This was all part of his original plea agreement so he wouldn't face any more charges.  Now the plea deal is off the table, the other charges he was facing before might resurface again during the Trial.

To be continued....