The L.A. Riots | 4. Glen
Slow Burn
Will King Stand on the Witness Stand?
As Rodney king's civil suit got under way prosecutors were building a criminal case against the four l pd officers who'd beaten him. Steve lerman told me that he thought king would struggle on the witness stand, especially while he was suffering the effects of a dramatic brain injury. King disappointed just about every one - his failure or refusal to make any kind of public statement about race or racism irked a lot of black activis. The prosecutors decided he'd be useless as a witness, more likely to wreck their case than to win a jury's sympathy.
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