Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca won a reprieve Wednesday when an appeals court ruled he could remain free while he appeals his conviction on charges of obstruction of justice and lying.

Baca, 75, was convicted earlier this year for his role in a 2011 scheme by sheriff’s officials to interfere with an FBI investigation into alleged inmate abuse and corruption by sheriff’s deputies working in county jails.

In sentencing Baca in May, U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson told the career lawman that his three-year prison sentence should serve as a deterrent to other public servants.

“Your actions embarrass the thousands of men and women [in the department] who put their lives on the line every day,” Anderson said at the time. “No person, no matter how powerful, no matter his or her title, is above the law.”

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