Inquiries Sought Into Killing of Harlins

South-Central Los Angeles activists Saturday demanded that the U.S. Justice Department and state Commission on Judicial Performance independently investigate the shooting death of teen-ager Latasha Harlins and the Superior Court judge who sentenced her killer to five years probation.

Leon Jenkins, attorney for Harlins’ family, urged a rally of 230 people at the Abundance of Christ Church to sign petitions and write letters demanding federal and state authorities to probe whether the slain girl’s civil rights were violated or the judge showed unlawful racial bias.

Stanley X of the Nation of Islam and former pro football player and actor Jim Brown said that the circumstances of Harlins’ death showed that African-Americans need to regain economic control of their community by buying out Korean grocers and patronizing black-owned stores.

Korean-born grocer Soon Ja Du, 51, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for shooting Harlins, who was black, in the back of the head last March 16 as the 15-year-old left Du’s family store after a confrontation over a bottle of orange juice.

Superior Court Judge Joyce A. Karlin had rejected an original charge of murder. Last week, after the manslaughter conviction was returned, she fined Du $500 and sentenced her to 400 hours of community service and five years’ probation.

The sentence outraged many in the black community, who had expected the grocer to be sentenced to jail. Speakers on Saturday said the sentence is further evidence of judicial bias against blacks.

“She (Karlin) handed down not a sentence, but a declaration that a black child’s life is not worth . . . a $1.79 bottle of orange juice that was overpriced in the first place,” said Bishop George E. Stallings of the African American Catholic Congregation.

Saying that Karlin’s trial conduct showed a “pattern of racial insensitivity,” Jenkins urged rally-goers to circulate petitions the next two weeks and to demand action from the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles and Commission on Judicial Performance in San Francisco.

“What we want you to say--in your own words, of course--is not only was the sentencing unjust, it was outside (state) guidelines,” the lawyer said.