officers - The Black Vault

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Asked whether he thought the
· indictments were politically moti­
. vated, Powell replied: "Sure. Bush
is the one who asked for it."
Baird, whom Bush recently nominated
for a federal judgeship, denied -
that politics played .a rol~ in the
investigation or the indictments.
"Absolutely not," she said.
"There has been no direction by
anyone in the Department of Justice
or the White House that we
were to have indictments by any
date. We were given full discretion
and leash to be able to do what we
felt was appropriate."
Attorneys -for the officers were
contacted Wednesday morning,
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: and ·all four men will be asked to
.their·. race; am~· any government surrender to federal authorities,
officer :Who :violates them. inten- Baird said: They are expected to
tioruilly-can :~.~:charged: under the · appear before a magistrate this
federal'~tp.~ut~.._: .. . ·. · morning and return on Monday. for
But·wV,ile t~9ial ~o_tivation does . arraignment. .
not need to be proV.:ed,Jt could be · In the state case, lawyers .for the
jD.trpdJJcani·be~:introduced ·in. less likely this trial will be moved;
~civfi,rightS.cases1o shdw/the:stai~ experts s~d. ·Changes of venue in
:ofnnnd6ftlie'·defenciants:-.. -\.-: federal court are much rarer than
~:1 • . > · ·1 · ·. > :.;. ·· :· ·., · ·, · they are in state court.
·:T: ~he (e~~r.?i.Jrtvesti$~tion of :t}].e . The Central District ?f California
,;.:. ·~n~):le!!~lP;g;~~ ~ttr;1ct~q at-. m~l~d~s seven counties ~? 16
tep~ioi1· :~t;,:the .:.hi?9est. ·levels.; o,f : npmon people, and Stone smd he
government.· Pres1dent · Bush, for did not expect the change of venue
· instanc¢, aimounced i_h a nationally iSsuEl to be.a significant one because
televised speech · that he was of the large jury pool. Baird agreed.
stunned· by the· not guilty verdicts · "I am very confident that we can
in sta.te court. Wi!-}1 aus;h in~ tight find a fair and impartial jury," she
'batt!El for ·re~i~ction, some pundits . said. .
speculated t'lia~ .the· federal indict; No dat~ has been set for the
. men~ . were· timed to help the fed~ral tnal, though some pe~pl_e
. President's campaign. close to the case. said they hoped lt
would reach a judge before the end
of the year.
Many issues could complicate
the schedule, among them the
question of who will represent the
officers. ·
The- Police Protective League
spent about $500,000 for the officers'·
legal fees during the state
trial. That expenditure, combined
with its &'ponsorship of an unsuccessful
campaign against Charter
Amendment F, the police reform
measure, have left its treasury·
depleted,' a source said Wednesday.
As a result, the union may ·not be
able to spend as much on the legal·
defense for this case, and· if ·new
lawyers need to be appointed i~
could delay the trial for months. . ·. !
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Koon's attoJ;Iley, Darryl:¥oun-. · i
ger, said Wednesday· that.he .. '
ytould not' b~ representing:. the. 1
police sergeant;; Mounger ·declined: 1
to. comm_ ~nt_ .on whe~er;. -mopey,~~
was a factor, ~a~g o~lY;· tl,l~t,,he\
has sever,al'~ther ¢ompli~~t~a