officers - The Black Vault

TIIE LAST ANGRY woMI
in hindsight, was King's own absence from the trial. For when the
prosecution rested on March 17, after seven and a half days. it was
virtually impossible, she says. not to be surprised. "My mouth just
dropped open. It was like, Where's Rodney'.' My
feeling was that the defense didn 't.need to come on
at all-it had reasonable doubt all over it. Surely,
we thought, he had to come and tell his version.
"The criminal assault charges were the most
difficult of all to prove. I don't think the officers arc
•
us it's uneonstitutionalto stop the press from publishing jurors'
names." Miller says. "It's against the First Amendment. Well,
the First Amendment doesn't do anything to protect the jurors."
She's organized a jury-support group with the Ventura County
Mental Health Services' chief psychologist, Dr. Richard
Reinhart. The agenda for the first meeting included a discussion
entitled "Why do we feel like the scapegoats for problems that
have much deeper roots than any one set of verdicts?"
"I've never been an activist," says Miller. "This is so unlike me,
ll ojthe regular jurors have received ktters from Tom Metzger,
telling them they have been made members of the Ku Klux Klan
and that the Klan {stands ready to defend you.' " .
r
criminals. Why would anyone
commit criminal assault when
there are so many witnesses?
You could see it on the video.
There were cars passing-at
one point, even a tour bus
Ca!Jle by as Rodney was
being beaten. They picked a jury that would
do their dirty work. We were used."
And the dirty work had a price-~me
that many of the jurors continue to
pay. One woman fears for her job,
after a bomb threat at her workplace.
One man took the "Simi Valley"
frame off his license plate; another is
sleeping with an ax by his bed. Yet another
bought a gun. All of the· regular jurors have
received-to their horror, Miller adds-letters
from Tom Metzger, telling them they have been made members
of the Ku Klux Klan and that the Klan "stands ready to
defend you at a moment's notice."
Ventum County psychologist Ronald Bale, who has closely
followed the aftermath of the trial, says the jurors' reactions are
understandable. "They're people who've played by the rules, and
the rules have been pulled from under them. It leaves them with a
horrible sense of vulnembility and betrayal. In those circumstances,
a person can very quickly become mdicalized.''
Clearly, Miller has. This woman who used to hide in her
kitchen mther than confront a salesperson is now out there fighting
with missionary zeal. She's been firing off letters and phone
calls to her local lawmakers. She's had long conversations wiili
Senator Ed Davis' office in Sacramento, offering help in his fight
to pass the amendment to SB 1299, which would make it a misdemeanor
to publish information through which the "average
person" could locate a juror. (The bill is opposed by the American
Civil Liberties Union and the media.) "They keep telling
but I have to know I did everything I could."
Meanwhile, she says her family life has
changed irrevocably. "I know I will never
deal with my children in quite the same way.
I want to tell them they qan't believe what
they read in the papers or see on TV. I will
tell them our system is not perfect. I won't be
as protective or idealistic with them."
She didn't vote in last month's primary. "l
conveniently had my eyes dilated, so I couldri't
drive. When I heard that t~e press traced jurors
through the voter-registration rolls, I thought l
might never vote -again. The system mpes me,
and then it expects me to participate."
As a lawyer, Paul worries about the implications
of this case. "It'll take years for the effects
to pass," he says. "Will juries now hold
their finger up to the wind before delivering a
verdict? Will we start trying people by public
sentiment?" But mostly he worries-about his wife, his family and
their future. ''They took Lindy and turned her from a very nice per·
son into a total cynic. I don't know where she's going to land."
One place she'll land, says· Miller, if something is not done to
protect ·future juries, is out in front of the Ventum County·
Courthouse. "I'm going to call the news media and go down
there with a group of jurors and friends and picket." Her hus·
band, she says, "thinks I'qt mad. He asked me to tell him when
I plan to do this, so he can be out of town."
The long-term effects oil her marriage, she admits, have yet to
be assessed. "It seems like everything domestic is on the back
burner right now. I'm still so obsessed with this. I find that 90
percent of my time is focused on it. Whenever Paul comes home,
I'm on the phone with the jurors."
"She used to be sociable and friendly," says Paul. "She
always kept any unpleasant feelings to herself. Now there's a different
awareness. Where this awareness will take her, I don't
know. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what I've got now." •
64 lOS ANGElES MAGAZINE