Speculation turns to hung jury // Observers bemoan `all this waiting'
Sally Ann Stewart; Jonathan T. Lovitt
04/16/1993
USA Today
FINAL
Page 03A
(Copyright 1993)
LOS ANGELES - Jurors in the Rodney King beating trial begin their second
weekend of deliberations today amid growing speculation over the possibility of
a deadlock.
"A hung jury would be great," says Harland Braun, lawyer for suspended police
officer Theodore Briseno. "A hung jury means the black community doesn't get
insulted, the police don't have a martyr and we can all survive."
Meanwhile, the TV show A Current Affair said it had purchased exclusive
post-verdict interview rights with the other defendants: officer Laurence Powell
and Sgt. Stacey Koon, both suspended, and fired officer Timothy Wind.
The fee wasn't disclosed.
Since April 10, the panel has been trying to decide whether the four intentionally
violated King's civil rights when they beat King two years ago.
Braun says that if no verdicts are reached by Monday, U.S. District Judge John
Davies is likely to call jurors into court to ask about their progress.
The verdicts can't come soon enough for south central housewife Esquine Pettie,
59, one of dozens who flock to the courthouse every day.
"All this waiting, standing around, not eating, and trying to figure out what's
wrong with that jury is making me nervous," Pettie says. "To have people
waiting here shows that they care about what's going on in the country," says
mechanic Mark Goodwin, 32. "I've had some good conversations with all
different peoples here."
But curious observers are far outnumbered by the scores of reporters and TV
crews transmitting moment-by-moment updates worldwide.
The only news from the courthouse Thursday involved a quickly resolved debate
about whether KCBS-TV reporter Bob Jimenez inadvertently broadcast some of
Davies' courtroom statements.
U.S. marshals rescinded Jimenez's court credentials, but they were reinstated
after a phone conference between the station's lawyer and the judge.
Lawyer Paul DePasquale - defending Wind - said media coverage has been
"incredibly irresponsible . . . almost like the media is promoting civil unrest."
Still, he said, reporters covering the federal trial generally have shown "better
balance than last year," when acquittals in the state trial caught most people - and
the media - by surprise.
Meanwhile, in New York, the National Conference of Black Mayors urged
citizens to keep the peace after a verdict. Jobs in south central, 8A
PHOTO,b/w,Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY