Powell’s Retrial in Beating Case

I greatly fear that the decision to retry Laurence M. Powell, the only defendant in the Rodney King trial not fully acquitted by the jury, will prove to be a bad mistake (May 16). The benefit to society in bringing him to judgment, assuming of course that he is guilty, will be far outweighed by the inevitable consequences that are bound to result in this complex environment.

One of the most revered provisions of the Bill of Rights is the one that guarantees anyone accused of a crime a fair trial, which includes having his case heard by a jury composed of fair-minded people completely free from preconceived notions as to his guilt or innocence and completely free from any outside influence or pressures. It is certainly naive to think that any person otherwise acceptable as a juror could be found in the state of California, at least, who could be expected to disregard the intense media coverage of the violence triggered by the jury’s verdict in the original case and decide the issues in the new case exclusively upon the evidence produced there. Yet such is the essence of a fair trial. It is also naive to believe that any jury selected in a second case could act without feeling the public pressure evidenced by the condemnation and abuse heaped upon the members of the original jury.

If Powell is retired, he will most certainly be found guilty no matter what the evidence as the jury would not dare do otherwise and, most certainly, there will be an appeal. Somewhere down the line in the appellate process some judge or some group of judges will be compelled to hold, although probably with great reluctance, that regardless of strong evidence of guilt in the record the guilty verdict would have to be set aside because the defendant had been denied his constitutional right to a fair trial. The possible consequences of such a scenario are mind-boggling.

With the healing process barely under way in Los Angeles, the retrial of Powell would be tragically counterproductive.

JESSE W. CURTIS, U.S. District Judge (ret.), Newport Beach