Sentences for Koon and Powell
* The sentences given LAPD Sgt. Stacey Koon and Officer Laurence Powell are yet another indication of the subjectivity of our legal system based on how one person, the judge, perceives the situation (“Koon, Powell Get 2 1/2 Years in Prison,” Aug. 5). Though saddened by the lightweight handling of this gross dereliction of duties on the part of these two men, I am not surprised. America believes in equal rights for everyone else around the world but its own citizens.
This travesty highlights more than ever the need for changes in our justice system to make it a system based more on content of the crime than color of the skin. Unfortunately, until white America starts to feel the unjust sting of a policeman’s baton and suffers at the hands of a biased legal system, the changes so direly needed will be an uphill battle.
DORIS K. REED
Los Angeles
* Judge John Davies’ message to law enforcement personnel is crystal-clear. Do your job, go to jail. No wonder the crime rate has increased in Los Angeles since the King beating. Police officers are afraid to do their job. Thank you, Judge Davies.
KENNETH A. GUNNELL
San Gabriel
* Once again, a person who for one moment in history had the power to aid the healing of America has blown it. Davies could have bound up wounds and done much to restore the confidence of the underprivileged in our judicial system. Instead, he opted for appalling insensitivity.
If any levity is appropriate to this sad situation it is surely Davies’ reflection that criminal police officers are more “susceptible to abuse” in prison. Would he for that reason serve up diminished sentences to child molesters or even attractive young felons? No, Judge Davies, that reasoning is a cop-out (pun intended).
To serious business again, watching a teary-eyed black woman on television say “how dare he,” I could only feel “bravo.” Again, a supposed paragon of our justice system, a federal judge, has sadly proved that after 200 years many of those in ivory towers still just don’t get it.
RICHARD W. CRAIGO
Los Angeles
* Angelenos are constantly demanding tough prison sentences. (Are you listening, Daryl Gates?) Unfortunately, if you are a police officer breaking the law, or a store owner killing an unarmed patron--leniency is given. Outrageous!
Let’s get to where the rubber meets the road. With such inconsistency in our judicial system, is there no doubt that this city will explode again?
ERNIE PEREZ
La Puente
* I feel that the prison terms of Koon and Powell are a travesty of justice. The only reason that Koon and Powell were tried twice is because Rodney King is black. Obviously, prejudice works both ways. This is realism, not bigotry. If the officers were black and King white, I would feel the same way. The point is that no one should be tried twice. This country was blackmailed into the second trial with threats of more violence.
Davies is to be admired for his courage in sentencing Koon and Powell to the minimum imprisonment. However, I feel that they have been punished enough.
MARGARET BRADBURN
Ridgecrest
* I was appalled, but not taken aback, by Davies’ ignominious sentencing of two of LAPD’s stoic and dispassionate finest.
Serving four years honorably in the U.S. Air Force as an African-American male conditioned me even more to realize the greatest burden I will forever have to bear is the burden of racism!
Racism is the vehicle for defensive and hypocritical responses. Anger, hostility, and, yes, even hatred are hybrids of racism!
What do I do now? Riot? Instigate an outcry for justice? No! I shall read more books. I shall earn more college degrees. I shall make attempts to lead and direct African-Americans to knowledge, education, self-esteem, self-love, and along the way continue to love humankind.
Sooner than we think . . . a new regime is on the horizon! “That which does not kill me makes me stronger!”
WILLIAM WILSON DENSON
Inglewood
* The sentence in the Rodney King federal trial will no doubt be compared to whatever is handed down in the Reginald Denny trial. Many were disappointed with the punishment, some because they believe it too lenient, while others think Koon and Powell got the proverbial shaft. Either way, I think I need to point out a couple salient issues.
First, Denny was not a felon who led police on a high-speed chase, nor was he operating his vehicle while drunk. He was not resisting arrest and continuing to threaten those who were arresting him. The federal judge rightly pointed out that much of what was done to King was justified by the man’s own actions at the time. Had he cooperated with the police from the start like the others in his car, he would not have been beaten. This doesn’t excuse the excessive actions of the officers, but it does point up the main difference between the two cases.
Denny did nothing to provoke the assault upon him. For all the charges of racism leveled against the LAPD, the Denny defendants are accused of beating a man purely because of the color of his skin, out of simple prejudice and hate. The beating of Denny was a crime from the very start.
Secondly, we must compare the injuries done to these two men. No one denies that King was seriously hurt, but Denny is lucky to be alive. While no one can credibly claim that Koon and Powell were trying to kill King, Denny was so badly hurt it is impossible to believe that his attackers were trying to do anything but kill him.
So in all fairness, even if the two cops did get off easy, be careful about drawing too many comparisons. The charges against the Denny defendants are much more serious, because the crime is much more serious. If found guilty, their punishment must be equally harsh.
PAUL McELLIGOTT
Fullerton
