Baca ordered to report on Hilton's release
The LA TIMES reports today that L.A. County Sheriff Baca has been formally ordered by the County Board of Supervisors to report on why he ordered Paris Hilton released "early."
It's likely he'll formally reiterate his prior explanation: that the judge gave her a too-harsh sentence in the first place, and she had medical problems that the jail couldn't handle.
And a couple days ago, it was reported that a Hilton forebear had previously contributed to Baca's reelection campaign. And there is general suspicion that Baca (unlike the rest of us!) treats celebrities differently.
But I'm thinking about the Boston Strangler. Albert DeSalvo was convicted in the early sixties of sexually assaulting and strangling more than a dozen women in their homes, in a highly-publicized trial, but sentenced to imprisonment in the state's asylum for the criminally-insane - Bridgewater State Mental Hospital - following a brilliant defense by F. Lee Bailey. You can imagine how careful they were not to let The Boston Strangler out.
Nevertheless, he escaped a few months later - and then turned himself in! The escape, DeSalvo explained, was to draw public attention to the hideous conditions at the mental hospital. It worked. Big scandal.
The conditions in the L.A. County Jails are unspeakable. The system routinely relies on them to obtain confessions for defendants in criminal cases. The deal is, confess today, whether you did it or not, and you'll be out on probation tonight, or at least transferred to state prison. Of those who haven't spent the night there, only a defense attorney who has discussed these options with a trembling defendant while the stench coming through the bars makes your eyes water can understand.
This is not something the chief jailer wants somebody like Paris Hilton talking about, because people would listen to her. And they certainly don't want her dying behind bars, as so many inmates with obvious medical needs do. So they let her out.
That's how it works.
It's likely he'll formally reiterate his prior explanation: that the judge gave her a too-harsh sentence in the first place, and she had medical problems that the jail couldn't handle.
And a couple days ago, it was reported that a Hilton forebear had previously contributed to Baca's reelection campaign. And there is general suspicion that Baca (unlike the rest of us!) treats celebrities differently.
But I'm thinking about the Boston Strangler. Albert DeSalvo was convicted in the early sixties of sexually assaulting and strangling more than a dozen women in their homes, in a highly-publicized trial, but sentenced to imprisonment in the state's asylum for the criminally-insane - Bridgewater State Mental Hospital - following a brilliant defense by F. Lee Bailey. You can imagine how careful they were not to let The Boston Strangler out.
Nevertheless, he escaped a few months later - and then turned himself in! The escape, DeSalvo explained, was to draw public attention to the hideous conditions at the mental hospital. It worked. Big scandal.
The conditions in the L.A. County Jails are unspeakable. The system routinely relies on them to obtain confessions for defendants in criminal cases. The deal is, confess today, whether you did it or not, and you'll be out on probation tonight, or at least transferred to state prison. Of those who haven't spent the night there, only a defense attorney who has discussed these options with a trembling defendant while the stench coming through the bars makes your eyes water can understand.
This is not something the chief jailer wants somebody like Paris Hilton talking about, because people would listen to her. And they certainly don't want her dying behind bars, as so many inmates with obvious medical needs do. So they let her out.
That's how it works.
Labels: Chief Baca, civil rights, human rights, L.A. County Jail, Paris Hilton, police brutality, police misconduct
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