So, Robert, to beat a dead horse; did the officers have the power to use excessive force? Did they have the right to use excessive force? Julie Krueger ========Original Message======== Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: Paying taxes for months on end Date: 6/7/05 4:28:41 P.M. Central Daylight Time From: _robert.paul@xxxxxxxxx (mailto:robert.paul@xxxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent on: Phil Enns wrote: > Julie Krueger wrote: > The point of the court action was to discern whether the police were empowered, that is > had the right, to do what they did. If they had 'absolutely no right to > do that' then they would have been found guilty because they did not > have the power to act as they did. I'm sure Phil did not mean to say exactly that. It is a contingent fact that some people who have broken the law are, if tried, found guilty. Phil seems to be thinking of an ideal world in which what he says would be true. This world is not it. Here's a summary of the events in question. In 1992, four LAPD officers were indicted for using excessive force in subduing Rodney King (who had been stopped for speeding, and who resisted arrest). They were tried in Ventura County. after a California appeals court had granted a defense motion for a change of venue. All four were acquitted, although the jury could not agree on one of the charges against officer Laurence Powell. Two hours after the verdict was announced (on April 29, 1992), rioting broke out in Los Angeles. Before it was over, fifty-three people had died, and over 7,000 had been arrested. Two days later, President Bush (George H. W. Bush) asked the Justice Department to determine whether the police had violated any of King's federal civil rights [sic]. A Federal grand jury returned indictments against the same four officers. On April 16, 1993, a Federal jury convicted Powell, and another officer, Stacey Koon, of violating King's civil rights. They were both sentenced to 30 months in a Federal prison. Robert Paul Reed College ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html