------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 14, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
IMPACT OF THE DONOVAN JACKSON VERDICT
By John Parker Inglewood, Calif.
Most in the Black community here were not surprised when court officials announced July 30 that justice would once again be denied in the prosecution of Jeremy Morse and Bijan Darvish. The two were both Inglewood cops when they beat 16-year-old Donovan Jackson last year.
Some of the incident was caught on video tape. Before he knew that the tape existed, Darvish submitted a police report that neglected to mention the beating of the handcuffed prisoner.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William R. Hollingsworth Jr. announced a hung jury in the case. Until the day after that announcement, people did not know if that meant Morse would also escape prosecution as did Bijan Darvish, who was pronounced not guilty.
In an attempt to avert the same anger seen after the Rodney King verdict in the city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said his office would retry the case. "We will retry this case to bring this matter to some sort of just resolution for the community," said Cooley. "Given seven voted guilty here, it was an easy decision to make."
Cooley was referring to the fact that seven jurors voted former cop Morse guilty of assault while five thought he was innocent.
Many felt that the district attorney's office, which seldom convicts racist cops, could not be trusted to seriously try a case against police officers. And in fact, the office's trial performance in this case has come under criticism from both the Inglewood community and legal experts.
The Los Angeles Times wrote July 31, "Although brutality cases are hard to prove in many circumstances, legal experts said that prosecutors' own miscues and questionable strategies made it even more difficult for the jury to convict Morse."
At trial, Donovan Jackson said he was dazed and frightened but not resisting when assaulted by the cops. "They came fast, all of them started rushing me and started hitting me."
This intimidation didn't stop when, according to Jackson, Morse told him he'd break his nose and that it was "his world."
The lack of interest by the district attorney's office in prosecuting this trial seems to bear Morse's statement out.
THE MEAT OF THE ISSUE
To begin with, the prosecution allowed a jury with only one Black juror, although the African American population of Inglewood is 50 percent.
The prosecution also used very little evidence to back its case against the two officers. Regarding Darvish, who admitted beating Jackson and was charged with filing a false police report, the prosecution called no witnesses, relying solely on Darvish's filed report. As a result, Darvish was found not guilty. He will probably soon resume beating heads and covering it up when he returns from leave.
District Attorneys Max Huntsman and Michael Pettersen based their case against the officers on three seconds of videotape--not on Morse's consistent history of racist police abuse, including an assault on a Black community leader working to halt youth violence. Neilson Williams spent three days in intensive care in a nearly fatal beating in which Morse directly participated two weeks before the Jackson incident, according to police records obtained by the Los Angeles Times. As in the Jackson case, Morse tried to justify the beating and choking by claiming that Williams was resisting arrest. However, no charges were filed against Williams and a witness reported that Williams was attacked for no reason.
Many in the legal community wondered why the prosecution used Charles Heal as an expert for the prosecution since in his testimony he said he would not have recommended filing criminal charges against Morse. Heal is a Los Angeles County Sher iff's Department commander. His statements were key. During deliberations jurors requested that transcripts of Heal's testimony, about two hours long, be read back. In addition, the defense attorneys used Heal's arguments repeatedly to help convince the jury that Morse was innocent.
Although one cop who witnessed the incident admitted that Donovan stopped resisting after the handcuffs were on him and before Morse punched him, the defense held on to its claim that Jackson was resisting arrest. This is even though the videotape shows him limp before being slammed on a police car and then punched once again. The defense attorneys excused this by saying he was "passively resisting."
Last year, in July, when people were angry after the beating, Justice Depart ment officials came into town to manage and extinguish the quickly building movement for justice for Donovan Jackson. Those community folks concentrating on "keeping the peace" were propelled into the foreground by the media. It was then promised that justice would be served: "Just be patient."
It seems that instead, some very dangerous precedents have been established during this trial.
Before the attack by the police, Dono van Jackson had no record. He said he had never even come into contact with police. These statements were never refuted by the defense. Yet defense attorney John Barnett referred to Donovan Jackson this way to the jury: "This isn't Little Orphan Annie. He presented as a dangerous person. Dangerous or not, that's what he looked like."
Ain't that the meat of the issue. All of us Black folk, this reporter included, look dangerous and threatening to the cops whose job it is to maintain an unjust and racist, anti-worker capitalist system. This case once again rubber-stamps the idea that it is okay to racially profile the Black community and that any violence used is justified.
But that's not all. If Morse's actions are blessed by the courts, what does that mean to the next person who is perceived as "passively resisting"--say during a non-violent civil-disobedience action?
For now, people in Inglewood are still waiting for justice, but not holding their breath. It would be wise for all progressive people, especially those here in Los Angeles, to stand in solidarity with Dono van Jackson and his family, and reject the racist brutality and arguments of the police and excuses of the state.
Everyone's real security lies in helping to build an anti-racist movement in the streets that will begin to scare the racist justice system into setting the right precedent against would-be killer cops. Build ing the connections between the anti-war movement and the struggles for justice and against racism could catapult that effort.
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