officers - The Black Vault

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fn8 to convict four white COP& for beating a black ·man. It may. . He never even appeared in court, let alone testifted.
be as simple as that" . · "Tiiat was a mistake," said Jeffrey Galen, a civil r}8hts law·
ty
The jury-chosen from an almost entirely White commum: yer who has handled several pollee brutality cases. 'The jury
- included one Hispanic and one Asian. . . . . ... wanted to see him. By not letting them see him. who~ was,
Others saw not racism, but a deterrence to pollee: · · that was a mistake. Rodney King Is a human being. .
Jim Fyfe, a criminologist at American ·university in Wash- Even defense lawyers cited King's absence: "He could have
Ington, D.C., noted that "It's a very rare event when police get offered a lot of testimony about the blows delivered to the
Prosecuted. ••: Most otten, they are acquitted."
head, which was a big part of the peoples' case." said Stone.
Only one juror, who asked not to be identi1led, offered a pOi- It's probable the verdict wlll be challenged. ·
tlal explanation of the verdict on ABC's Nightline. The juror At the very least, the Justice Department wllllikely convene
said the panel was swayed by the total package of evidence, a grand jury to examine the case, said former Justice Depart·
including King's be~vior and the omcers' perception that he ment omclal Bruce Fein. The acquittals, "clearly appear to be
was on drugs. The juror denied race was a factor. noting King's a mlscarrlage of justice," the conservative legal scholar said.
two black companions were unharmed. The juror said there Some say there was never a chance to fl.nd justice from a
'were no regrets. I'll sleep well tonight" · . .· . jury that took only a day to reach a verdict (it spent the next six
Oearty, several subtle, but important factors were at work: days arguing about the single excessive force charge against
~Jurors tend to empathize with the pollee omcers. .. Powen. on which it dead-locked s.to-4). · ( ' ·
"Th~. omcers were out there. protecting Hfe, limb and ''The idea ••• is mconceivable," said Los Angeles lawyer
property, said Dewey Stokes of the Fraternal Order of Police. Cynthia McOain·Hlll. "It 1s pretty clear that their minds were
And the tools they have been given-clubs, guns an~ 183er made up prior to beginning of trial." · · ·
darts - sometimes produce violent results. Contributing· Haya el Nasser Sam Meddis, Dennis Cauchon
Still, the verdict will stun even pollee, said Darrel Stephens · ' ·
of the Pollee Executive Research Forum, an association of bigcity
pollee chiefs. It won't be seen as a green llgbt to use force.
"Everybody's come to the conclusion that it was excessive
force," Stephens said. "They feel like those omcers went well
beyond the bounds of proper pollee behavior." , ·
In Los Angeles, some pollee cheered and offered high-fl.ves
to fellow omcers. But many were more reserved. ''Bittersweet.
sweet and sour. It's a little bit of both," said omcer Blll Frio.
"Nobody's going to rejoice about this," said Sgt. Harry Ryon.
~ Jurors might reflect a societal tear of the violence linked
to King, a black man with a criminal record. · ·
"The whole episode reminds us there is something to be
feared from the pollee ••• but the public stlll fears the criminal
. more, and is willing to give pollee latitude," said Georgetown
Uni~erslty law prof~r Paul Rothstein.
~Jurors were given reason to doubt the videotape.
"The tape we've seen briefly on the news Is one thing," said
Matt Young. publisher of Videomaker magazine, "but the jury
saw it with analysis and oral presentation. .•• They scrutinized
it and who knows what larger SOcial issues they considered."
Phil Gutis, a spokesman for tPe American Ovil Liberties
Union, argues the tape clearly shows inexcusable brutality:
"We think the tape and the prosecution met the ~dard of
Proof beyond a reasonable doubt." he said. ·
· The standard Is more stringent than that. said Gerald Bea·
ver, a Fayetteville, N.C., lawyer with the National.A$0Clation
of Criminal Defense Lawyers civil justice committee.
· "In police brutality cases it's 'beyond all doubt.' " he said.
~Jurors were inundated with technical evidence.
They considered the videotape over and over. even in ultra·
slow motion. They became intimately familiar with the 56
blows delivered over 81 seconds. · · ·
They heard 54 witnesses, ·an but six of them pollee omcers,
testify over the course of six-week trial. ··
"It's a classic example of the abuse of expert testimony,"
said Gerald Beaver, a defense lawyer. ''The case was decided
on junk science by supposed experts, rather than the facts."
~Jurors also seemed swayed by a solid defense. ·
· "One of the things that was very important was to try to put
the jurors in the shoes of the pollee omcers at the scene," said
defense lawyer Michael Stone, who represented omcer Laur·
ence Powell. "Get the jurors to look at this case not through the
eyes of a camera but through the eyes of these omcers." · ·
Powell. accused of striking the most blows, said he thought
King was under the in1luence of PCP. No sign of the drug was
found in King's body, but tests showed he was drunk. "I was
completely in fear for my life, scared to death," he said.
Lawyers also stressed that King, a tali and strong 27-yearold,
was in violation of parole on a robbery conviction and led
pollee on a chase that reached speeds of 110 mph.
Sgt. Stacey Koon, omcer in charge that night. testi1le_d the
beating was "a managed and controlled use of force."
"Sometimes pollee work is brutal. It's a fact of life," he said.
~ Jurors never got to see Kiru!. ·