Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department

The county contends all images taken by its sheriff's deputies and firefighters were deleted upon orders of their superior officers, no longer exist in any form and never entered the public domain or appeared on the internet.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva and former Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna squared off Wednesday in the first one-on-one debate for the top law enforcement position in Los Angeles County.

A woman testified that while attending an award ceremony gala about three weeks after Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others died, she saw a former fire captain show people pictures of the helicopter crash scene from his phone.

The bartender told a federal jury that a friend, who is a rookie deputy, came into the bar and showed him and a customer graphic crash site photos stored on his personal cell phone.

Jury selection begins in downtown Los Angeles for the trial of Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit against the LA County sheriff's and fire departments over graphic photos taken by first responders at the scene of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Lakers Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, their teenage daughter Gianna, and seven others.

Villanueva's legal bid -- known as a writ of mandate — “is not available to compel the Inspector General to set aside his subpoena,” a judge ruled.

Eight LA County deputies who claimed they were pressured to quit their jobs or leave the station by members of a clique of mostly Latino deputies known as the Banditos can move forward with their case with its current causes of action for now, a judge ruled Monday.

Jury selection is expected to begin Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles for the trial of Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit over graphic photos taken by first responders at the scene of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, Lakers standout Kobe Bryant, their teenage daughter Gianna, and seven others.

A Los Angeles County criminal grand jury is investigating the sheriff's department handling of an incident last year where a deputy was seen kneeling on a handcuffed inmates head for three minutes.

He was located Friday evening in Woodland Hills and taken back into custody.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors wants voters to give them the power to overthrow a sheriff that the public chose to elect, "for cause." If approved by voters on Nov. 8, the measure would give the board the power to remove a sheriff on a four-fifths vote of the five-member panel.

A local pastor has been identified as the suspect in the shooting that left an off-duty LA County deputy hospitalized. The alleged gunman's neighbor says he may have been protecting his family from the deputy.

LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva says he won't testify before a Civilian Oversight Commission on deputy gangs within the sheriff's department until certain conditions are met. Commission members have called his requests "out of line."