L.A. Now Live: Lawsuits and oversight of the Sheriff’s Department
Join Times staff writers Abby Sewell and Jack Leonard for an L.A. Now Live discussion Wednesday morning about two important developments for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
A prosecutor has been appointed to head a new agency that will scrutinize the department, with the power to conduct investigations inside the jails and elsewhere. Additionally, a $722,000 settlement was approved for a jail-related lawsuit that named Sheriff Lee Baca.
The prosecutor selected to head the new oversight agency is Deputy Dist. Atty. Max Huntsman, a supervisor in the district attorney’s public corruption division who has been among the lead prosecutors in the trial of Bell city officials.
The lawsuit, meanwhile, was filed by a former jail inmate who said Baca showed “deliberate indifference” to conditions in county jails.
Dion Starr, 44, said he was stabbed 23 times by Latino gang members while in custody at Men’s Central Jail in 2006. Starr’s attorney’s said Starr -- who is black -- is not affiliated with a gang. Starr argued that Baca’s failure to correct security issues in the jails made him ultimately responsible.
Join us at 9 a.m. for a discussion on these developments, with Leonard and Sewell taking questions from readers.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
