LASD deputy to be retried on obstruction charges in September

Federal prosecutors on Monday formally announced their intention to retry a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy whose obstruction of justice case ended in a hung jury earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson set the date of Deputy James Sexton’s retrial for Sept. 9. Prosecutors informed Sexton of their decision last week, after the convictions of six of his colleagues on conspiracy and obstruction charges for attempting to hinder a federal civil rights investigation into brutality and corruption at county jails.

Those convicted include a lieutenant and two deputies who worked with Sexton at Operation Safe Jails, an investigative unit within the jails. They are scheduled for sentencing Sept. 8.

Prosecutors alleged Sexton had been an integral part of a scheme to hinder the grand jury investigation by hiding a federal informant under false names in the jails. His attorney argued he was but a junior deputy caught up in a jurisdictional battle between the Sheriff’s Department and the FBI.

Jurors deadlocked 6-6 after two days of deliberations on the 29-year-old deputy’s case, the first trial arising out of the ongoing grand jury investigation.

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