It seemed like an open-and-shut
case. The George
Holliday video, played on television so often that an executive at CNN
called it "wallpaper," showed three Los Angeles police officers--as
their
supervisor watched-- kicking, stomping on, and beating with metal
batons
a seemingly defenseless African-American named Rodney King. Polls
taken shortly after the incident showed that over 90% of Los Angeles
residents
who saw the videotape believed that the police used excessive force in
arresting King. Despite the videotape, a jury in Simi Valley
concluded
a year later that the evidence was not sufficient to convict the
officers.
Was the all-white jury racist, as some charged, or did they see
something
in the evidence that [CONTINUED] |