officers - The Black Vault

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In addition to spreading Briseno's
version of the events on the
nigl,lt of the beating, the exposure
helps communicate some subtler
points. Among other things, Braun
' hopes viewers will notice Briseno's
I size. He stands 5 feet, 9 inches and
i weighs less than 130 pounds these
·: days, making him by far the small-
~ est of the four officers charged in
beating.
. At the same time, the new
' approach exposes Briseno to a tor·-
rent of questions, some of them
1
hostile. Braun, one of the best
· known criminal ·defense attorneys
in Los Angeles, has put po limits on
what his client can be asked.
· "I figure, you either trust your
, client to give interviews or you
· don't," Braun said later. "I tr.ust
: him, and he doesn't need me
watching over him."
On April 29, a Ventura County
jury acquitted Briseno of assault
and excessive force in the King
beating. Also acquitted on all
counts were co-defendants Sgt.
Stacey C. Koon and former Officer
Timothy E. Wind. Officer Laurence
M. Powell, who delivered the
majority of the blows to King, was
acquitted on all counts except for
one in which the jury could not
reach a verdict.
There was an instant of relief,
Briseno said,. but it quickly passed.
The federal· government reopened
its investigation of the beating soon
after the verdicts and three weeks
ago filed civil rights charges
against the four officers.
Briseno blames that on Bush and
the pressures of an election year.
In particular, Briseno fa~t~- th~ I
President for saying he and his !
family were "stunned" by the not ·
guilty verdicts.
"I want to ask the President:
'Why did you say those things?
You don't know me. You don't
know my family. You don't know
about my performance on the I
job,' " Briseno said. "Bush wants to
push this case because he wants to '1
get elected:" 1
During the interview, Briseno 1
stressed several times that he is
not a violent person, that he has
never raised his voice to his wife.
There are those who disagree,
including his ex-wife, who has said!
that he beat her on several occasions.
Briseno was suspended in
1987 for 66 days after allegedly :
beating and stomping a suspect in j
·custody. ·
, Briseno denies both allegations.
·His ex-wife is bitter and out to sell
:her story, he said. Although he,
: acknowledges the suspension, he ·
\says he was not guilty but accepted
~the punishment to put _the incident 1
1 behind
him. · · . - ~ ·
Briseno politely fielded hours of
questions during the interview, but
bristled when asked whether his
1
colleagues will ever forgive him for
· i testifying against other officers.
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. "T.hese policemen who feel I 1
('broke the code, that's fine,'' Bril
seno said, }lis voice ris!!_l_g._'_''!'l_!ey'r:~:j
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