Powell v. Superior Court

232 Cal. App. 3d 785 (1991)

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Powell v. Superior Court

California Court of Appeal
232 Cal. App. 3d 785 (1991)

  • Written by Arlyn Katen, JD

Facts

Four White Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers—Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, Stacey Koon, and Timothy Wind (the officers) (defendants)—were charged with assault by force likely to produce great bodily injury and with a deadly weapon and other offenses related to the officers’ beating of a Black man, Rodney King. A bystander sold a videotape of the encounter to a local television station, and the video made worldwide news, sparking many public conversations about racist police practices. The video created a political schism between Los Angeles’s mayor and the LAPD’s police chief. The police commission, appointed by the mayor, unsuccessfully attempted to force out the police chief, and several commission members resigned in protest. The power struggle spilled over into the hotly contested city council election. A commission of prominent Los Angeles residents that was formed to investigate the LAPD found evidence of systemic racist and sexist policing practices and excessive uses of force. The officers were arrested in March 1991 and promptly filed a motion for a change of venue. The officers presented several public-opinion surveys to support the motion, including a Los Angeles Times poll finding that 86 percent of Los Angeles residents had seen the video and 92 percent believed that the officers had used excessive force. While the change-of-venue motion was pending, Los Angeles newspapers publicized a document that threatened community violence if the officers’ case was transferred to another venue, and other news coverage mentioned the possibility of riots. The trial court denied the motion, and the officers petitioned the California Court of Appeal for a writ of mandate directing the trial court to change venue.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)

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