By Partner Bill Haney. ---- Six Current and Former Members of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department were convicted of Obstruction of Justice and related charges in federal court today. This is a sad day for law enforcement. It should be noted that federal prosecutors appear to have reached no higher than the level of lieutenant in targeting deputies for prosecution. Given the fact that Sheriff Baca himself was on national television at one point suggesting that FBI agents may have broken the law (not accurate), it seems to this former prosecutor that targeting low level deputies is an overreach if those individuals who gave them their orders are ultimately overlooked. Leniency is urged at the time of sentencing for those deputies in the lower ranks of the chain of command. Sheriff Baca originally took an absurd public position regarding the federal operation, a position that had to confuse low ranking deputies regarding the legalities of this unusual and bizarre situation. Sheriffs officials purportedly hid an FBI informant from his federal handlers in a series of moves dubbed by deputies as Operation Pandoras Box. There is simply no way that a lieutenant would have done this without orders from higher officials. Given the public darts originally tossed by Sheriff Baca at federal investigators, it is clear that the orders to obstruct the federal inquiry had to have come from at or near the top of the organization. The federal grand jury investigation continues according to the Los Angeles Times. latimes/local/lanow/la-me-ln-six-deputies-convicted-of-obstruction-20140629-story.html
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 23:02:08 +0000
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