officers - The Black Vault
officers - The Black Vault
officers - The Black Vault
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count of assault under color of<br />
authority, with a special allegation<br />
that he used force likely to produce<br />
great bodily injury. If convicted, he<br />
faces a maximum of six years in<br />
prison.<br />
Friday's decision was greeted<br />
with praise from Mayor Tom Bradley<br />
and relief from other black<br />
leaders, who say they hope it is the<br />
first step toward healing the city<br />
after the devastation from the riots<br />
and looting of 2\12 weeks ago.<br />
But for some, the relief was<br />
tempered with anger. <strong>The</strong>y were<br />
quick to compare the videotaped<br />
beating of King to another, more<br />
recent videotaped beating with racial<br />
overtones: the assault on white<br />
truck driver Reginald 0. Denny,<br />
which occurred as the riots broke<br />
out. This week, four young black<br />
men were charged in the Denny<br />
case.<br />
"If that medium [videotape] is<br />
good enough to arrest four black<br />
men," said state Sen. Diane Watson<br />
(D-Los Angeles), "it is certainly<br />
good enough to get justice for<br />
Rodney King. We're waiting to see<br />
if justice is indeed blind, and not<br />
colorblind."<br />
Others, among them Joe Hicks,<br />
e~ecutive director of the Southern<br />
Christian Leadership Conference,<br />
said the healing will not begin<br />
unless the U.S. Justice Department<br />
brings criminal charges in the case<br />
J<br />
<strong>The</strong> department is investigating<br />
whether Powell and the three<br />
other <strong>officers</strong> violated King's civil<br />
rights.<br />
"We certainly applaud the attempt<br />
to bring Mr. Powell to justice,"<br />
Hicks said, "but we think<br />
that it is only one part of the puzzle<br />
around this Rodney King situation.<br />
What needs to happen now is the<br />
Justice Department needs to step<br />
up to the plate .... <strong>The</strong>re are still<br />
three other <strong>officers</strong> who the whole<br />
world saw beating Mr. King who<br />
are walking about on the streets,<br />
vindicated."<br />
Powell's three co-defendants<br />
Sgt. Stacey C. Koon and Officers<br />
<strong>The</strong>odore J. Briseno and Timothy<br />
E. Wind-were acquitted April 29<br />
of all counts against them, after a<br />
trial in Simi Valley that lasted 21h<br />
months. Powell was acqUitted of<br />
two counts. but the jury deadlocked<br />
8 to 4 in favor of acqUittal on<br />
a third count of assault under color<br />
of authority.<br />
F'riday's hearing marked the<br />
first public appearance by the 29-<br />
year-old officer since the verdicts<br />
were issued. <strong>The</strong> proceedings were<br />
held under tight security, with four<br />
sheriff's deputies standing guard<br />
and bulletproof glass separating<br />
Powell, the judge and the attorneys<br />
from spectators, who were required<br />
to walk through a metal<br />
detector before entering.<br />
Camera crews and reporters<br />
packed the hallway outside the<br />
courtroom, waiting for a glimpse of<br />
Powell. But the accused officerwho<br />
is suspended from the force<br />
and remains free on $30,000 bailskirted<br />
them by entering and leaving<br />
through a back door. Looking<br />
tired, Powell made no remarks in<br />
court except to agree to waive his<br />
right to a trial within 60 days.<br />
During Friday's hearing, Deputy<br />
Dist. · Atty. Alan Yochelson told<br />
Weisberg that the prosecution was<br />
ready to proceed with the case<br />
against Powell, who is shown on an<br />
81-second amateur videotape delivering<br />
the most blows to King.<br />
Earlier in the week, Los Angeles<br />
County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner had<br />
announced that his office would<br />
seek a retrial because of compelling<br />
evidence against Powell-in<br />
particular the videotape.<br />
But defense lawyer Stone, who<br />
indicated that he might not represent<br />
Powell in the second trial,<br />
asked the judge to dismiss the case.<br />
He argued that there is no reason<br />
to believe a second jury would vote<br />
to convict Powell and that in any<br />
event, no jury could give the officer<br />
a fair trial in light of the riots and<br />
the threats that have been made<br />
against jurors in the first trial.<br />
"Even if a new jury were<br />
persuaded that the prosecution<br />
had failed in its effort to prove<br />
the truth of the charge beyond a<br />
reasonable doubt," Stone told the<br />
judge, "it is probable that they<br />
would convict anyway in order to<br />
avoid risks to their own personal<br />
safety, a great deal of condemnation<br />
from the community, and the<br />
risk of sparking another series of<br />
riots in urban centers across the<br />
United States."<br />
Yochelson replied: "We cannot<br />
simply throw up our hands and<br />
refrain from prosecuting this matter<br />
simply because there is widespread<br />
public interest."<br />
Lawyers for both sides are due<br />
back in court Friday to discuss<br />
where the t1·ial might be held. <strong>The</strong><br />
first trial was moved out of Los<br />
Angeles County after an appeals<br />
court ruled that the <strong>officers</strong> could<br />
not get a fair trial because of<br />
pretrial publicity and the political<br />
fallout after the King beating.<br />
We;sberg noted that with the<br />
extcns1ve television coverage of<br />
the first trial. jurors in all parts of<br />
•<br />
the state have been exposed to<br />
publicity about the case. And, he<br />
said, with the city about to get a<br />
new police chief and an election on<br />
police reforms two weeks away,<br />
the political climate in Los Angeles<br />
has changed considerably since the<br />
appeals court ruling.<br />
If the judge decides to move the<br />
case back to Los Angeles, it is<br />
likely the defense would appeal. At<br />
a news conference after the hearing,<br />
Reiner said prosecutors will<br />
argue vigorously to keep the trial<br />
in Los Angeles, or in. an urban<br />
setting if the venue is changed.<br />
But Reiner declined to discuss<br />
specifics of the prosecution strategy<br />
for the second trial. During the<br />
first trial, prosecutors did not call<br />
King to the witness stand, a move<br />
that has drawn widespread criticism<br />
of Reiner, who made the<br />
decision. Nor was there any testimony<br />
from citizens who witnessed<br />
the beating from apartment balconies<br />
fronting the Lake View Terrace<br />
site.<br />
Reiner on Friday refused to say<br />
whether he will tap new prosecution<br />
witnesses now available: the<br />
acquitted <strong>officers</strong>. Briseno, testifying<br />
in his own defense during the<br />
first trial, drew particular attention<br />
when he said he tried to stop<br />
Powell from beating King and that<br />
he "thought the whole thing was<br />
out of control."<br />
Although the district attorney<br />
said prosecutors will consider calling<br />
additional witnesses, the underlying<br />
trial strategy will remain<br />
unchanged. "I~ssentially," Reiner<br />
smd, "it will be the same trial, and 1<br />
the fundamental evidence in thiJ<br />
case will be that videotape." _<br />
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