Decision of Grand Jury Assailed by Black Leaders

The San Diego County Grand Jury was sharply criticized Friday for agreeing to investigate dozens of allegations of deputies beating inmates when just two months ago it refused to examine the police slaying of a black man.

“It’s hard to say what’s on the minds of these grand jurors,” said Urban League Executive Director Herb Cawthorne, who has pushed for an independent review into the slaying of Tommie C. Dubose.

“I do say that the disparity in their choice is so glaring that it makes a statement that the grand jury system here values a black life less than it might injuries to others.”

Cawthorne, along with other leaders in the city’s black community and Police Chief Bill Kolender, urged the grand jury last spring to review the Dubose shooting.

But Grand Jury Foreman Edward C. Malone, on March 31, turned down their request because he believed the panel had insufficient time to adequately investigate the case before the panel disbanded in three months.

A new set of grand jurors is to be chosen Monday, and the jurors terms begin July 1.

But, on Thursday, with just four weeks left on its calendar, Malone’s grand jury announced that it will investigate the complex jail allegations.

‘No. 1 Priority’

Malone did not return repeated calls to his office Thursday and Friday.

In a statement released Friday, Malone and Ray Tieger, deputy foreman of the grand jury, said the grand jury had already spent considerable time investigating the problems resulting from crowding in the jails.

“The Grand Jury is approaching the conclusion of its term, however, by making this investigation the No. 1 priority, it can be completed. . . . This will undoubtedly delay the completion of the Grand Jury’s final report, but because of the importance of this issue, and the jury’s commitment to public service, they have voted to undertake this vital charge.”

In the jail case, dozens of current and former county jail inmates have alleged they were beaten by sheriff’s deputies in recent years, with some of the female inmates saying they were stripped naked and chained.

The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office are conducting a separate probe, and federal officials said Thursday that their investigation is months away from being completed.

The Rev. George Walker Smith, a black minister and spokesman for the Civilian Advisory Panel on Police Practices, pointed up the incongruity in the grand jury’s position on the two cases when he spoke Friday before a luncheon crowd of the Catfish Club.

“Notice how quick it was?” Smith said, referring to the grand jury’s agreement to investigate the jail beatings just one day after Sheriff John Duffy and members of the county Board of Supervisors requested the review.

“Yet when we asked for the same thing, they said they didn’t have enough time,” Smith said. “And we asked about just one case. But here there are now 40 some people who have said they were brutalized in the jails. Something is wrong with the grand jury system.”

Shot 5 Times

Dubose, a 56-year-old Southeast San Diego resident, was shot five times by a police officer as he struggled over a gun belonging to another officer, police say. The slaying drew intense criticism of police practices since it occurred during a March 12 drug raid at Dubose’s home, even though the victim was known in his community as being strongly against drug abuse.

The county district attorney’s office is investigating the case to determine whether police misconduct was involved in the slaying.

Kolender was out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment. Assistant Chief Bob Burgreen said the Police Department remains dissatisfied with the grand jury’s decision not to review the Dubose slaying.

“When we were told no, we were very disappointed,” Burgreen said. “We still think that the present grand jury should have investigated it, and we intend to ask the new grand jury to investigate this.”

Cawthorne said the minority community is looking at several groups, besides the new grand jury, to take up the Dubose investigation. He pointed to the U.S. Justice Department and the state attorney general’s office.

“We’re trying to use as many methods as we can,” he said. “If they don’t work, we’ll have to find others. The tensions are so high in the community that we need outlets for our frustrations.”