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Inglewood
Jury Deadlocked
D.A. undecided as to the possibility of a retrial
A little more than a year after an altercation between Inglewood
police officers and a teenage boy was caught on videotape the jury
hearing the case deliberated for three days but became deadlocked
and could not reach a decision about one of the accused officers.
Superior Court Judge William R. Hollingsworth has declared a mistrial
in the case of Jeremy Morse, who was charged with use of excessive
force and was fired by the Inglewood Police Department months ago.
But his former partner, officer Bijan Darvish, was found not guilty
of falsifying a police report.
District
Attorney Steve Cooley remains undecided about the possibility of
a new trial against Morse.
There
was mixed reaction to the decisions from other quarters, but the
community-at-large remained relatively calm.
The original
altercation did not involve LAPD officers, but occurred in Inglewood,
south of Los Angeles. Even so, in
the days prior
to the announcement of the outcome representatives
of the City of Los Angeles, including Human Relations, Mayor's representatives
and police department staff, had fanned out into the surrounding
neighborhoods, urging restraint no matter what the jury decided.
They were joined in this effort by religious and civic leaders.
Even though some were disappointed in the trial's outcome, and vowed
to pursue the case further, this proactive work
paid off Tuesday, when no significant overreactions occurred.
Thank you LA !
Here's the text of the Press Release from the District Attorney:
D.
A. Steve Cooley Comments on Morse-Darvish Case
July 29, 2003
LOS ANGELES - District Attorney Steve Cooley issued the following
statement today:
“The District Attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division moved
with unprecedented speed after a handcuffed, 16-year-old Donovan
Jackson was slammed into the trunk of a police car in Inglewood.
Within two days of the July 6, 2002, incident, District Attorney’s
personnel, working closely with the Inglewood Police Department,
launched the investigation. Within days, evidence had been gathered
by District Attorney investigators, and prosecutors presented
evidence to the Los Angeles County Grand Jury. The Grand Jury
indicted then Inglewood officer Jeremy Morse for assault under
color of authority and his partner, Officer Bijan Darvish, for
lying in a police report about the incident.
“The District Attorney’s office also filed a motion with the
court when the defendants appeared for arraignment on July 18,
2002, asking that the case be transferred to the jurisdiction
that it occurred – Inglewood. The court eventually transferred
the case to the Airport Branch Court, which draws jurors from
Inglewood, as well as other areas within a 20-mile radius of
the courthouse.
“As prosecutors, we firmly believe that cases such as these
need to be decided by jurors from the community where the alleged
crime occurred. Deputy District Attorneys Michael Pettersen
and Max Huntsman presented a solid case at the just-completed
trial and we believe we proved all elements of the crimes alleged
beyond a reasonable doubt.
“After weighing all the evidence and deliberating, the jury
has made its decision on Officer Darvish, one of the defendants.
Under our system of justice, we must abide by the jury’s decision.
We disagree and are disappointed the jurors did not see the
same crime that we did.
“Because of the inability of the jury to reach a decision on
the case against defendant Morse, the entire proceedings will
be reviewed at high levels in the office to determine if another
trial is warranted.” |
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