officers - The Black Vault

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WhiteSays -
JUry Was the
·Worst POssible
• King case: Prosecutor contends he
did not get one person that he wanted
for the panel. But he does not think' race
played a role in the verdicts.
By HENRY WEINSTEIN
TI~IES STAFF WRITER
The lead prosecutor in the trial over the beating of
Rod~ey G. King said Thursday that he did not get
Below)
••
(Indicate page, name of
newspaper, city and sta~
LOS ANGEL TIMES
LOS ANGELES, CA
Date: FRI. , 5/8/92
Edition: FRONI' SECTI01'1',PAGE 3
Title:
WHITE SAYS JURY WAS
THE WORST POSSIBLE
Ctaaclar: 44A-
01
Classffication: 80-33B
Submitting Office:
LOS ANGELES
Indexing:
SEARCHED
\-j, INDEXED j
SERIAUZEO
Ell~,_-
v
II/JAY 1 Ll 1992
f:"RI LOS ANGELES I
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one JUror he wanted for the case that ended with the · ,
acquittals of three police officers and the partial Nonetheless, he said, " I don t want anyone to
acquittal of the fourth. . belieye we think the verdicts were racist decisions. I
Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry L. White said in an have no·evidence they were based on the color of the
interview t~at the six-man, six-woman panel would prosecutor or th_e color of Mr. King:"
h_a~~ been a perfect jury" in a criminal case with a . The 35-y_ear-?ld attorney, who IS black, defended
~lVlhan defendant, but could not have been worse for 1 his key actiOns m the case, and those of co-counsel
a case in which law enforcement officers were. ~.lan Yoch~l~on and Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner-includdefendants.
mg the deciSion not to call King to the witness stand.
"These jurors ·were very pro-law enforcement" White said he expected the jury to convic;t Officer
bas:d o~ t?,eir responses to jury questionnaire~. Laurence M. _Powell, who administered most of the
White said. They were people who believe there is blows to Kmg, and Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, the
this 'thin blue line' separating Jaw-abiding citizens supervisor at the beating scene in Lake View
from thejungle-the·crim- Terrace. .
ina! element. · He ~aid he considered it possible that Officers.
"They are people who Tim~thy·E. Wind and Theodore J: ~riseno woula be
put police officers on a acqmtted. He felt that because Wmd was a young
pedestal. They have had· off~cer "the _jurors might f~~l . sorry for him." And
very positive experiences Bnsenp, ~bite noted,_ ha~ wtlctzed_tbe con~uct of the
with police officers, even other of~Icers and mamtamed that ~e had tr1ed ~9 :;;top
when they get a traffic the beatmg. . :· ·.
ticket."
In fact, one of the jurors
who was mistakenly arrested
about 20 years ago
said on his questionnaire
that he harbored no hard:
feelings toward police.
"They were going to
side with the four officers
before they ever sided
~sAngelesTimes with Rodney King,".White
Terry L White said.' The jurors-10
whites, one Latino and one
Asian-American-spurned the key evidence in the
including the videotape of King's beating, he
ca~e,
~d .
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