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American Morning
Hung Jury in Trial of Former Police Officer Accused of Assaulting Teenager
Aired July 30, 2003 - 07:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A Los Angeles judge has declared a hung jury in the trial of a former police officer who was accused of assaulting an African-American teenager. Jeremy Morse, who is white, showed relief as the judge made his ruling yesterday in the case. Morse could have faced up to three years in prison. The incident last July was caught on tape and police have feared a repeat of the violence that followed the Rodney King case.
Thelma Gutierrez is live in Inglewood -- Thelma, let's first and foremost talk about any violence.
Has anything happened since the ruling?
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, I can tell you that there were months of preparations that took place between community leaders and law enforcement to make sure that that kind of a problem did not happen again. We're standing right in front of the Inglewood Police Department. Officers here told us a short time ago it was a very quiet night, thankfully, despite some of the anger that was expressed yesterday after the ruling.
Now, the jury was able to return a not guilty verdict when it came to Police Officer Bijan Darvish. He was charged with falsifying a police report in the incident, which occurred last year at a gas station in Inglewood.
When the verdict was read, Darvish slammed his fists on the desk. He yelled, "Yes!" with relief. His mother choked back tears.
Now, in the police brutality case against former Police Officer Jerry Morse, jurors, of course, were deadlocked, 7-5 in favor of a conviction. The attorney for Donovan Jackson spoke out yesterday. Donovan Jackson is the teenager who was punched in the face and slammed onto the top of a patrol car in the amateur video. And the attorney is calling for a retrial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BARNETT, ATTORNEY FOR MORSE: I'm going to ask the court to exercise its discretion under 1385 of the penal code to dismiss the case.
QUESTION: What's the basis (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
BARNETT: The basis is that he's been tried once already and that it's unlikely any jury will convict him. There'll be no new evidence and it would be a oppressive to put him through a second trial, the result of which would almost certainly be the same.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTIERREZ: Dozens of community activists stood outside of the courtroom yesterday. They were outraged with the ruling and they held signs and they screamed, "No justice, no peace!"
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This case is not over with. We're going to demand that Steve Cooley retry this Officer Morse. We want to make sure that he's retried by some competent prosecutors and he's brought to justice because he beta that kid and what's really crazy is Mr. Crooks is the only one that was put in jail, the man that shot the videotape. He's a hero and the criminal was found not guilty by a hung jury.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTIERREZ: On September 22, the district attorney will announce whether or not to retry the case after looking at additional evidence against Morse. Now, if they do decide to go to trial, it is scheduled to begin on September 29 -- Soledad, back to you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Thelma, thank you for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Assaulting Teenager>
Aired July 30, 2003 - 07:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A Los Angeles judge has declared a hung jury in the trial of a former police officer who was accused of assaulting an African-American teenager. Jeremy Morse, who is white, showed relief as the judge made his ruling yesterday in the case. Morse could have faced up to three years in prison. The incident last July was caught on tape and police have feared a repeat of the violence that followed the Rodney King case.
Thelma Gutierrez is live in Inglewood -- Thelma, let's first and foremost talk about any violence.
Has anything happened since the ruling?
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, I can tell you that there were months of preparations that took place between community leaders and law enforcement to make sure that that kind of a problem did not happen again. We're standing right in front of the Inglewood Police Department. Officers here told us a short time ago it was a very quiet night, thankfully, despite some of the anger that was expressed yesterday after the ruling.
Now, the jury was able to return a not guilty verdict when it came to Police Officer Bijan Darvish. He was charged with falsifying a police report in the incident, which occurred last year at a gas station in Inglewood.
When the verdict was read, Darvish slammed his fists on the desk. He yelled, "Yes!" with relief. His mother choked back tears.
Now, in the police brutality case against former Police Officer Jerry Morse, jurors, of course, were deadlocked, 7-5 in favor of a conviction. The attorney for Donovan Jackson spoke out yesterday. Donovan Jackson is the teenager who was punched in the face and slammed onto the top of a patrol car in the amateur video. And the attorney is calling for a retrial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BARNETT, ATTORNEY FOR MORSE: I'm going to ask the court to exercise its discretion under 1385 of the penal code to dismiss the case.
QUESTION: What's the basis (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
BARNETT: The basis is that he's been tried once already and that it's unlikely any jury will convict him. There'll be no new evidence and it would be a oppressive to put him through a second trial, the result of which would almost certainly be the same.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTIERREZ: Dozens of community activists stood outside of the courtroom yesterday. They were outraged with the ruling and they held signs and they screamed, "No justice, no peace!"
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This case is not over with. We're going to demand that Steve Cooley retry this Officer Morse. We want to make sure that he's retried by some competent prosecutors and he's brought to justice because he beta that kid and what's really crazy is Mr. Crooks is the only one that was put in jail, the man that shot the videotape. He's a hero and the criminal was found not guilty by a hung jury.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTIERREZ: On September 22, the district attorney will announce whether or not to retry the case after looking at additional evidence against Morse. Now, if they do decide to go to trial, it is scheduled to begin on September 29 -- Soledad, back to you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Thelma, thank you for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Assaulting Teenager>
