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Embattled Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith abruptly stepped down Monday, before a jury reached a verdict in the civil corruption trial that could have led to her removal from office.
The longtime San Jose-area sheriff has struggled to recover from multiple scandals, including allegations of corruption and bribery among her command staff and abuse in the county jails — leading to a vote of no confidence from the county’s Board of Supervisors last year.
Smith, who in 1998 became the first woman to be elected a county sheriff in California, has spent the last few weeks fighting a corruption case in civil court, in which prosecutors have outlined a bribery scheme that allegedly traded concealed-carry permits for political donations.
The unusual trial is a civil proceeding that only seeks to remove Smith from her position. She has not been directly linked in the criminal cases that have ensnared her former undersheriff and others.
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