Former L.A. county sheriff withdraws guilty plea in corruption probe
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca on Monday withdrew his guilty plea to a charge of lying to investigators, opting instead to face trial in a corruption case that clouded his final years as chief custodian of the nation's largest jail system. Both prosecutors and defense lawyers have cited Baca's recent Alzheimer's disease diagnosis in their reasoning for a seeking a relatively light sentence. U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson gave Baca and prosecutors time during a court recess on Monday to negotiate an alternative he might find acceptable, but the two sides failed to come to terms during three hours of talks.