LOS ANGELES—Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca decided to withdraw his guilty plea in court on Monday, August 1 and take the chance of facing a jury in a trial instead of jail time for the charge of lying to federal authorities during an FBI investigation of the county’s jails. The trial is set to begin in September.

Baca and his attorney have been unable to come to an agreement with the courts for sentencing for his involvement to lie to federal authorities. The negotiations came after U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson last month rejected an earlier plea deal in which Baca’s punishment would have been limited to a maximum of six months in prison.

In his rejection of the plea deal, Anderson said “a six month sentence will not address the abuse of the public’s trust.” Baca’s attorney, Michael Zweiback said attempts to agree to a plea deal with prosecutors had not been successful.

“Unfortunately, we have failed at reaching any kind of resolution we believe would be acceptable in some way to the court,” said Zweiback.

Baca informed the public that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease last year. His attorney is hoping that when a jury sees his client is unable to comprehend the proceedings that they can rule him mentally incompetent.

Anderson set the pre-trial hearing for September 6 and September 12, while a trial date has been set for September 20. The trial date can be postponed, because of Baca’s mental state. He announced in 2015 that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Nine other former officials have either been convicted or pleaded guilty in their roles of trying to corrupt the FBI’s investigation including Baca’s former second-in-command Paul Tanaka.