officers - The Black Vault

-
herself grappling with the problem
during jury selection for a man
accused of being under the in'fluence
of heroin. As in many such
cases, the veracity of the police
was at issue.
· "Six people raised their hands
and indicated they «ouldn't be fair
in the case," recalled Deputy City
.. Atty. Del San Juan, the prosecutor.
"I wa.s surprised about the number
of people who were candid."
Last-week, in a downtown court-
'The Rodney King tape had such an emotional impact.
That tape builds tremendous sympathy for the people
who are against the poli~e in a case.'.
Said Daniel Broderick, an associate
law professor at Pepperdine
University: "I wouldn't want to go
to trial right now if my case
depended on a policeman."
!most any phase of a legal
A proceeding could be influenced
by the publicity surrounding
King, according to legal experts.
For now, attorneys and judges say
they are most concerned about
their ability to select impartial
jurors, a process known as voir
dire.
"One of the standard questions
is, 'Will you believe a police officer
just because he's a police officer?' "
said Van Nuys Superior Court
Judge Judith Meisels Ashmann.
"Usually people answer yes. Now
you may ,get the opposite response."
.
. Los Angeles Municipal Judge
Marilyn Hoffman recently found
ERWIN CHEMERINSKY
USC law professor
room, Deputy City Atty. Jonathan
Mandel said he asked this question
of potential jurors in a prostitution
case in which a police officer was
the only witness: "I asked them,
'Other than Saddam Hussein, who
is. on the hot seat right now? Is it
Chief (Daryl~.) Gates?' They said,
'Yeah.'" ·
Defense attorneys, for their part,
consider the King controversy ·a
fortunate and long overdue turn of
events. ·
"The [King] tape sickens me like
it sickens anybody else who sees
it," said Bill Weiss, head deputy of
the Van Nuy.s public defender's
office. "But for years ·and years
defense attorneys have argued that·
there are racial problems with the
Police Department. This incident
will make it easier to make that
point.'' ·
The issue is especially sensitive
at the San Fert:tando courthouse.
The officers involved in the King
beating were from the Police pepartment's
Foothill Division and
that co1,1rthouse . handles Foothill
· ·cases. Marc Hentell, a San Fernando
deputy public ·defender, will
. soon go to trial representing an
inmate accused of fighting with a
guard. His jury will come from
neighborhoods near where King
was beaten.
"The defendant ·is a 4-foot-10
guy and the.guard is 6-2," Hentell
· said. "I plan to make the King
incident part of my closing argument.''
Legal experts offer yarying ~stimates
as to how long the King
incident will resonate in court
· proceedings.
Adefense attorney, who asked
not to be named, recalled that
the Don Jackson case-in which a
Long Beach police officer appeared
to push a police-ethics activist
through a plate-glass window during
a routine traffic stop-was
mentionned in cases for a year
afterward.
Said Broderick, of Pepperdine:
"It's a hot issue and it will be an
issue for some while. It's one of
those things that· can't help but
influence the system right now."
Times staff writers Michael Connelly
and Carol McGraw contributed to this
story.