officers - The Black Vault

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aul Miller worried about his \Ide I hl· 1.111. 1cd-hancd
lawyer recalls, "I said to her. 'I.e!"~ tal".· .md ~he looj..l·d
at me and said, 'How can !talk to you abtltll tlu~·!· I ~U!!·
gested she call the other jurors.'·
And she did. In fact, spending six hours at a time on1he
phone became her lifeline. "My shrink says it's llllt
healthy, but I feel they're the only other people in the world who
know how I feel." She called her priest. "I've never called him
before. I think he was expecting me to say I was having an aflitir.
or that Paul was, because I was crying. When I told him I was on
the King jury, there was absolute silence, and then he said, 'I' II
pray for you.' He-sent me a mass card." She called her doctor. "I
told him I couldn't eat or sleep. He sent me over some X an ax, rec-
•
lill'\ 11 l'lll to 11 ar ltH.!t'th~l.
and 11 hen the) came honll'. nohtldy
flj..~d 1hcm. t'>j" \\·on:Jcr they're clln!!lllg to eadJ other IHl\1 ...
( >nt• of the things Paul heard 11 a~ that many of the jurors shared
his 11 ili:'s seemingly bi:rarre. l"lllll'lusion: The whole thing. was a
setup: the JUrors were mere pawns in a predetermined game. the
outcome of which was never in doubt. "At first," he says. "I
thought it was ridiculous. Now, I'm not so sure.··
They point to the extreme inappropriateness of this particular
jury: three members of the National Rifle Association. an ex-military
policeman. an ex -naval shore patrolman. a park ranger, a
retired program manager for a company that receives military
contracts and a man whose brother is a retired police sergeant. Yet
the bl~ck prosecutor, Terry White-picked, according to D.A. Ira
you discredit the system of which they are a part. They can}t let that happen. JJ
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ommended a psychologist and suggested I get in quick." ·
Gradually, she started trying to resume her life. But things were
different. "We took the kids to their Little League game, and Paul
left for a few minutes-while he went to get coffee. I had a doughnut
in each hand, and when he came back, I noticed I'd been quite
unconsciously taking little bites alternately from each of them."
She wrote to Judge Weisberg, telling him of the bombardment
she and her fellow jurors were under-a Jetter written, she says,
''by a desperate, crazy person who used to be nQrmal.''
"Why were we thrown to the sharks?" she asked. "Why can't
I sleep or feel safe? How. do I protect my children? ... Please know
that I am not personally blaming you or anyone else. I have written
only because I trust and respect
you .... My life and the lives of the
other jurors have been shattered."
Weisberg responded, reiterating
"the public's right to know the
names of those who decide a particular
case" but adding, "Obviously,
had I been able to anticipate the terrible
events that occurred after the
verdicts, additional effort would
have been undertaken to protect the
identity and security ofthe jurors. In
the future, I'm sure that more will be
done to ensure the well-being of
jurors in cases such as this."
But that is little comfort to the
dozen or so jurors and alternates
who turned up on a recent Sunday.
afternoon at the home of one oftheir
number for a reunion. Finally, Paul
had a chance to watch and listen. "I
was blown away," he says, ·'at how·
close the relationship between these
people seems to be. They were
squeezed to the point of mental exhaustion,
and then they were thrown
to the wolves. 'It's like Vietnam-
Reiner, entirely at random for the job-accepted these jurors
without using up his peremptory challenges.
They point to the venue: Simi Valley, home of more LAPD
members than any city in L.A. County. It was supposedly chosen
so that the commute would not be too long for everyone involved
. and so the attorneys would not have to stay in hotels during the
proceedings. But, in fact, many of the jurors had very long commutes,
and the attorneys stayed in local hotels throughout the trial.
• 'The system is set up to protect the police," Miller says. ''The
district attorney and the judiciary are on the same side. If you discredit
the police, you discredit the system of which they are a part.
They can't Jet that happen." Bolstering that belief, she now says