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American Morning

Jeremy Morse Indicted Wednesday by Grand Jury on Assault Charge

Aired July 18, 2002 - 09:30   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Jeremy Morse, the police officer who was videotaped punching a handcuffed teenager in California, is expected to turn himself in today after being indicted Wednesday by a grand jury on an assault charge.

Frank Buckley, one of our correspondents, sat down with John Barnett, who is the attorney for the Inglewood officer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First if you could give us Officer Morse' reaction to the indictment.

JOHN BARNETT, MORSE'S ATTORNEY: Well, it's not unexpected. He, of course, is disappointed. But this is a day I think we both knew would come given the political climate and given all of the circumstances, it's not unexpected.

BUCKLEY: He faces potential I will if convicted up to three years in state prison. How bad is this particular indictment, this particular charge?

BARNETT: Well, it's the most serious charge that I think could conceivably come out of the video. And so in that sense, it's as bad as it could get.

BUCKLEY: Donovan Jackson appears to be thrown and hit against the car. He appears to be hit by your client. What has your client said about Donovan Jackson's actions that led up to his actions?

BARNETT: What happens is this: Donovan Jackson is lifted up, and my client expects that he will straighten his legs and walk to the police car. He does not do that. He goes limp. When he goes limp, my client has the full weight of Donovan Jackson in his arms. And he then has two choices, drop him to the ground, knowing he's handcuff, or throw him on the police car. He takes the only action that he can reasonably take, and that is to throw him on the police car. Now he's not completely balanced when he does that, and he forces them on to the police car, because that's the only thing he can do.

Thereafter Donovan Jackson -- Donovan grabs his testicles, and he's punched. BUCKLEY: The video we've all seen has, to a certain extent, defined Officer Morse in the public's mind. I suspect there are other views of hi that you have seen, that his friends and family have seen. What is it about Jeremy Morse that people should know that we don't know right now?

BARNETT: Well, I think that you should know he's not a racist, that he has girlfriend that's a Latino, that he has a large number of African-American friends who stand behind him, and that he has spent his life, really, in the promotion of good works. He has worked as a Christian camp counselor when he was in high school, and he's served the city of Inglewood.

BUCKLEY: This case has been compared to the Rodney King case. You successfully represented one of the officers in that case, Theodore Bracino (ph). Do you think the comparison to the Rodney King case is fair or accurate?

BARNETT: I think it's unfair in this sense. The level of violence in the Rodney King case was much greater than the level of violence here. And so in that regard, they're different. They're similar in that the in the beginning of both cases, public officials pronounced the officers guilty without trial. And later on, the public having been misled, was sorely disappointed in the outcome.

Unfortunately, when politicians declare people guilty without trial, and then the evidence does not support that verdict, then the public can lose faith in the system, and that's tragic.

BUCKLEY: It sounds like you're talking specifically about Roosevelt Dorn, the mayor of Inglewood, who said there's nothing the officer could say, in his mind, that could justify his action.

BARNETT: That's exactly what I'm talking about. The mayor is an elected official. Presumably, the people who elected him trust him. And when they hear their elected officials pronounce people guilty without trial, they tend to believe that, and they tend to believe that to the exclusion of all other evidence. And that, of course, is not the way we do things in this country. People are presumed to be innocent. And the mayor took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. And the Constitution requires that people be presumed innocent, not guilty.

BUCKLEY: John Barnett, thanks very much.

BARNETT: You're welcome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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