Inglewood Is Expected to Take Verdict Calmly

As jurors in the Inglewood police abuse trial ended their third day of deliberations Monday, the case was far from consuming the city.

“This is not like Rodney King; customers are not talking about the case,” said Shawn Harrington, 32, manager of Inglewood Sports Center on Market Street, the city’s main drag.

“Everybody is too busy talking about Kobe,” he added, referring to the sexual assault case against Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

In public buildings, retail shops and restaurants across Inglewood, residents said they had few fears of civil unrest in the coming days, even if former officer Jeremy Morse is acquitted of using excessive force on Donovan Jackson. The then-16-year-old Inglewood resident was videotaped being thrown onto the trunk lid of a police cruiser and punched in the head.

Hoping to avoid a repeat of the violence that followed the acquittal of Los Angeles police officers in the Rodney King case, Inglewood officials began an outreach campaign more than a year ago.

Along Market Street, large posters proclaiming “Peace after the Verdict” line storefront windows.

Many residents interviewed Monday believe that such pleas are unnecessary because the Jackson case has mustered far less interest and resentment than the King case.

Harrington moved to Inglewood shortly before the Rodney King riots and said there was much greater tension then over issues of race and law enforcement.

“With Rodney King, you could feel it was just ready to blow. It was so tense you could cut it with a knife,” he said. “But I just don’t see this being that major. It’s not on too many people’s minds as they come through the door.”

There were few shoppers along Market Street’s broad sidewalks Monday, but those who were there said they had taken only a casual interest in the case. They also said much had changed since the riots in 1992, when those neighborhoods hardest hit by violence and looting were those that most resented police abuse of minorities.

“It’s not going to be a riot,” said Kameron Hightower, 20, a student at Cal State Northridge. The King riots “didn’t make any sense. Why go out and loot your own neighborhood?”

Hightower, who waited outside the Creating Images salon to get her hair braided, said people would be much more likely to express anger through protests, petitions and complaints to government officials -- if they voiced any anger at all.

“We don’t hear about it every day, like Rodney King and the O.J. case -- we were watching it every day,” she said.

Much of the current trial focuses on the actions of former police officer Morse, 25. He is the officer an amateur videographer taped as he slammed Jackson onto his police car during a July 6, 2002, arrest at a gas station. Morse is charged with assault under color of authority. His former partner, Officer Bijan Darvish, 26, is charged with filing a false police report. During closing arguments last week, prosecutors said that the violent encounter had been the work of an angry, out-of-control cop. The defense said Morse had not used enough force on Jackson to warrant a criminal charge.

Jurors interrupted their discussions briefly Monday afternoon to ask the court to define the term “force.” Superior Court Judge William Hollingsworth read a clarifying instruction and the jury deliberated one more hour before ending discussions for the day.

The court proceeding marked the first time since Thursday that all parties in the matter had been called back into the courtroom; lawyers on both sides said they couldn’t be sure which way the jury was leaning. However, the query did seem to indicate that determining the level of force that Morse had used was a key issue.

Like the tape of King’s beating, the tape of Jackson’s arrest has been broadcast repeatedly. Many insisted that the officer’s actions were clearly excessive, but many also said that they were heartened to see that authorities had moved quickly to charge Morse.

“That man was wrong; it wasn’t right what he did, said Gary Edmondson, 33, of South Los Angeles as he sat in front of Inglewood City Hall. “They’re all already guilty; we’ve seen it with our own eyes.”

Edmondson didn’t rule out the possibility that some people might cause unrest if the officers were acquitted. “I’m not with the Martin Luther King thing. I’m with Malcolm [X] -- by any means necessary,” he said, referring to the late militant black leader.

Another visitor to City Hall, Frank Proctor, 40, said he too believed that violence might occur, but he was doubtful. “If they’re stupid, yeah. I don’t think it’s necessary to riot and to burn down your own houses for someone you don’t even know.”

Customers at Pann’s restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard finished lunch Monday afternoon and paused briefly to comment on the trial.

Errol Lawson, 41, an employee at LAX, said he was aware that the trial was near the end.

“You won’t find me protesting in the streets. You won’t find me in a T-shirt on the steps of City Hall with a megaphone,” Lawson said when asked how he would respond to an acquittal.

“It is a different time, but the facts remain. A guy was beaten, it was recorded and the facts speak for themselves.”

A 30 year-veteran of the Inglewood Police Department, who declined to give his name because of a department policy against talking to the media about the case, said he also believes times have changed since the King case.

“It used to be, when a cop had a problem, he tried to settle it himself; now we know we can’t. We need to do it together with the community.” he said.

“I just hope they do this soon. It’s hard to move forward and move beyond it with it dangling over our heads.”

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Times staff writer Richard Marosi contributed to this report.