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- THE WEEK, Page 14NATIONBack in the Dock
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- The L.A. Four are indicted again, this time on civil rights
- charges
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- Prosecutors got a second chance last week in Los Angeles. In
- a move reminiscent of the 1960s, the Federal Government handed
- down indictments against the four police officers whose
- acquittals last April set off the worst riots in two decades.
- As expected, they are charged with violating King's civil rights
- when they arrested him on the night of March 3, 1991.
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- Three of the men, Los Angeles police department officers
- Theodore Briseno, Timothy Wind and Laurence Powell, were charged
- with willfully using unreasonable force. A second count accuses
- Sergeant Stacey Koon, the supervising officer at the scene, of
- failing to prevent the assault. The trial date will be set at
- their arraignment hearing.
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- The federal case faces the same challenges as the state
- trial, including the tendency of jurors to sympathize with
- police officers dealing with events in the line of duty. And
- while the indictments brought a brief moment of satisfaction to
- the still-recovering community, Angelenos are already worrying
- about the consequences of yet another acquittal and whether the
- prolonged legal process will be worth it.
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