Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, whose trial on federal corruption charges is scheduled to begin Monday, will now face two separate juries after a federal judge decided to split the trial into two parts.
U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson ruled that an expert on dementia can testify about Baca’s mental state, but only as it relates to charges of making false statements to the federal government in 2013, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
Baca is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, but Anderson ruled that his mental state was not relevant to the other two charges against him — conspiracy and obstruction of justice. The jury for those charges is expected to be selected Monday, with opening statements expected to begin Tuesday.
A second jury will be selected at a later date to hear testimony on the third charge, the Daily News reported.
Baca is accused of conspiring to commit and committing obstruction of justice from August to September 2011, and making five false statements to the federal government in April 2013. Prosecutors contend Baca lied to the FBI about his knowledge of department efforts to subvert a federal probe into civil rights abuses in the jail system.
Both sides stipulate that the retired lawman is competent to stand trial.
If convicted of all charges, Baca faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
On Thursday, Anderson tentatively ruled that a former reporter for The Los Angeles Times must testify about a 2011 interview he conducted with Baca. Anderson said during a pretrial hearing that he was leaning toward denying a motion to quash a subpoena issued by government prosecutors to ex-Times reporter Robert Faturechi.
Despite arguments from media and First Amendment attorney Kelli Sager, Anderson said Faturechi, who now works for the investigative news organization Pro Publica, can be questioned on the stand about his interview with Baca and a subsequent radio interview the reporter gave to a public affairs radio show.
Anderson said prosecution and defense attorneys can question Faturechi about the content of the Times article and “Which Way, L.A.” interview, and would deal with other types of inquiries on a “question by question” basis during the trial.
“I’ll decide those when I hear them,” the judge said.
Faturechi’s proposed testimony is both “relevant” and “clearly admissible,” the judge said, adding that this was not a case where a reporter was being asked to name a confidential source.
Based on Faturechi’s interview, The Times published an article in which Baca, among other things, defended a decision to have deputies approach an FBI agent at her house in an attempt to question her about an ostensibly covert probe of conditions within the jail system.
The ruling about the two juries was made Friday.
—City News Service