officers - The Black Vault

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cuss whether to re-file charges
. . against Powell.
f Whit~ said he understands th.~ Reiner said the District AttorrustratiOn.
and anger m t~e Afn- , ney's Office also has not yet anacan-Amencan.
commumty that· lyzed the King trial to determine
helped spark nots t~at raged for what went wrong, but he declined
days after the verdtcts v:ere an- to blame the jury for the not-guilty
nounced last week.
"I don't condone it but I can unverdicts.
"You accept verdicts," he said.
·derstand the frustration because "You don't attack the jury. I am
·people feel like the government and not going to make any sugg ~stion
·the system let them down again," that the jury was anything other
:he said.
-than fair as they saw it. They
:. "I knew if they were found not brought their own judgments and
guilty there would be some demon- values to the jury."
strations," White said. "But I had 1 Trial analysts have suggested that
·no idea it would have_led to riots." a critical point in the tri~l was the
A yentura County JUry la.st week. decision by Judge Stanley Weisberg
acqmtted Los Angeles pohce Sgt. . to shift it to predominantly-white
Stacey Koon and officers Laurence: Ventura County rather than a
Powell, :nmothy Wind and· Theo- 1 jurisdiction with ~ racial makeup
dore Bnseno on 10 of 11 charges similar to that of Los Angeles
ste~ming fr~m .t~e March ,3, 1991, County.
beatmg of Kmg m Lake V tew Ter- Critics have said that the District
race.
Attorney's Office should have vig-
The jury deadlocked on a single orously opposed the selection of the
count of excessive force against Ventura County community of Si­
Powell, and a mistrial was. declared mi Valley as the site for the trial.
on that charge. A hearing is sched- Reiner dismissed that criticism. .
uled for May 15 to determine. "The prosecution has no voice, ·the discussion," he said. "Th.e tnal
whether Powell should be re-tried. : none whatsoever- no standing- judge selected the venue wtthout
Los Angeles District Attorney Ira; to even participate in the decision any consultation with the prosecu-
Reiner said in a separate interviewj as to which venue a case is to be as- tion." ·
Thmsday that although eight days I signed," Reiner said. ,, One more turning. po}nt .i~ !he
had passed since the verdicts, he, "The law is very clear that the case was the prosecutiOns dectston
had not yet met with White to dis-! prosecution may not \)articipate in not to put King o~ the stand as a
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