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Former Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith has been found guilty on all six civil counts of corruption and willful misconduct less than one week after retiring.
Smith was on trial over accusations from a 2021 civil grand jury report that the sheriff’s office traded concealed carry weapon licenses to campaign donors and that Smith accepted San Jose Sharks tickets without reporting them as gifts.
The civil trial began in September. Smith has denied the claims and would have been removed from office following the guilty verdict if she had not abruptly announced her retirement on Monday.
In a statement on the verdict, acting Sheriff Ken Binder said the sheriff’s office respects the jury’s decision and intends to move forward.
“The actions of a few people are not a reflection of the great work that our deputies do every day,” Binder said. “The men and women of the sheriff’s office are looking forward to new beginnings, with the sheriff election coming up next week.”
District Attorney Jeff Rosen echoed Binder’s statement and lauded the jury for considering evidence from the district attorney’s office’s investigation.
“We look forward to working with the next sheriff and all the honest, professional and hardworking men and women of the sheriff’s office to serve our community with honor and integrity,” Rosen said.
Smith first joined the sheriff’s office in 1973 and had served as sheriff for the last 24 years.
She announced earlier this year that she would not seek reelection and originally planned to retire once her term ended in January.
This verdict proves that she was corrupt all along. Please, let’s not have leadership say it’s time to “move on” and sweep the corruption under the rug! Since the jury found financial corruption, don’t the voters and taxpayers deserve to have everyone in the sheriff’s department audited for unaccounted cash flows? Given that the jury found a cover up, can anything anyone associated with this criminal organization be trusted in court? Can the feds open a RICO investigation? Let’s have some accountability!
Fortunately, her pension is going to be cancelled. Because she used her office for illegal purposes.
She tried to protect it by resigning, but it was too late, the case was already in court