Lawsuit alleges the former L.A. County Sheriff launched an unlawful criminal investigation of Lau in retaliation for her LA Times coverage of Sheriff’s deputies with histories of dishonesty and other misconduct.
LOS ANGELES – Today, attorneys for investigative journalist Maya Lau filed a federal lawsuit on her behalf in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, seeking damages for a criminal investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) that was designed to intimidate and punish Lau for her reporting, in violation of the First Amendment.
On December 8, 2017, Ms. Lau, along with two colleagues, published an article for the Los Angeles Times entitled “Inside a Secret List of Hundreds of L.A. Deputies with Histories of Misconduct.” The investigation revealed many of the names on the LASD’s confidential “Brady List,” a record of roughly 300 LASD deputies with histories of dishonesty or other misconduct that made the officers open to impeachment as trial witnesses. Ms. Lau documented how some deputies on the Brady List had kept their jobs—and, in some cases, had even been promoted—despite grave misconduct, including sexual assault, fabricating evidence, and using excessive force.
The list and its contents were so secret that even prosecutors were not allowed access.
“The deputies have been identified as potential witnesses in more than 62,000 felony cases since 2000, according to a Times analysis of district attorney records,” the story says. “In many of those cases, the deputies’ misconduct would probably have been relevant in assessing their credibility.”
At a time of widespread debate around police misconduct, Ms. Lau’s coverage of the Brady List provided evidence that LASD continued to employ and even reward officers with histories of misconduct, and demonstrated that crucial details about deputies were withheld from counsel in cases in which the deputies testified, in apparent violation of defendants’ constitutional rights. The series prompted new oversight of LASD’s role in past prosecutions, and helped inspire California legislation that brought greater transparency to police disciplinary records statewide.
However, as Ms. Lau’s lawsuit alleges, her reporting also made her the target of a campaign of retaliation and intimidation by the LASD. For at least three years, following the publication of her stories on the Brady List, the LASD secretly investigated Ms. Lau, who was the LA Times’ beat reporter for the LASD. None of these investigations revealed that Ms. Lau had committed any crime. But the LASD—under then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva—nonetheless recommended to the California Attorney General’s office that Ms. Lau be prosecuted for conspiracy, theft of government property, unlawful access of a computer, burglary, and receiving stolen property. In 2024, the Attorney General declined to prosecute Ms. Lau.
As the complaint alleges, this retaliation against Ms. Lau was part of a much larger pattern maintained by the LASD, in which LASD leadership opened retaliatory criminal investigations and referred for prosecution individuals who used their public positions to criticize Sheriff Villanueva and the LASD. As the LASD Civilian Oversight Commission documented in a 2021 report, these baseless investigations were intended “to chill oversight of the Department, not to pursue a prosecution.”
“It is an absolute outrage that the Sheriff’s Department would criminally investigate a journalist for doing her job,” Ms. Lau says. “I am bringing this lawsuit not just for my own sake, but to send a clear signal in the name of reporters everywhere: we will not be intimidated. The Sheriff’s Department needs to know that these kinds of tactics against journalists are illegal.”
“To protect a free press, the First Amendment provides nearly absolute protection for a journalist’s right to publish lawfully obtained truthful information about matters of public importance,” says attorney Justin Hill, who represents Ms. Lau. “At a time when the government’s efforts to silence criticism and dissent are reaching disturbing levels, we are proud to represent Ms. Lau as she stands up for free speech and the vital watchdog role that journalists play.”
“LASD’s retaliation against Ms. Lau for her reporting on deputy misconduct was a gross misuse of public power to attempt to stifle freedom of the press,” said Grayson Clary, staff attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “Journalism is not a crime, and no reporter should fear prosecution for doing their job.”
The lawsuit names as defendants former Sheriff Villanueva, former Undersheriff Tim Murakami, former Detective Mark Lillienfeld, and the County of Los Angeles, asking a jury to rule on damages for five different counts of violating Ms. Lau’s rights under the U.S. Constitution and California state law, including retaliation and civil conspiracy to deny constitutional rights.
Ms. Lau is represented by Steve Art, Anand Swaminathan, Megan Pierce and Justin Hill of the civil rights law firm of Loevy + Loevy; Grayson Clary of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; and Michael D. Seplow and Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun Seplow Harris Hoffman & Zeldes, LLP.
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For a copy of the complaint in Ms. Lau’s lawsuit, click here.
