Embattled Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith announces immediate retirement
SAN JOSE -- As jury deliberations in her public corruption civil trial continued Monday, embattled Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith announced her immediate retirement from office.
Smith is currently on trial for six civil counts of corruption and willful misconduct based on accusations filed by the county Civil Grand Jury last year.
If the jury were to find her guilty of any one of those six counts, Smith would have been ousted from office two months before her announced retirement in January. She was not seeking re-election.
Undersheriff Ken Binder will take over as acting sheriff until a new sheriff is either elected or appointed by the Board of Supervisors.
"More than a year ago, I publicly called for Sheriff Laurie Smith to resign, and she has belatedly heeded that call," said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo in a news release. "It remains for the County to rebuild a troubled department and to better address many long-neglected issues, particularly regarding jail oversight. The City of San José stands ready to help."
The trial followed an investigation into allegations that Smith's office traded concealed weapons permits for donations to her reelection campaign and mismanaged the jails, where mentally ill inmates died or were injured. Smith is also accused of withholding documents concerning an internal affairs jail investigation and lying on campaign finance forms.
She has denied the allegations.
Smith announced in March she wasn't running for reelection. Her term ends in January but if the jury finds just one count to be true, she would be removed from office early.
She is also under investigation by state Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is trying to determine whether her office "engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct" that could merit corrective action.
Smith has been sheriff of Santa Clara County, home to Silicon Valley, since 1998.