Ruling Again Moves Miami Officer’s Trial
A state appeals court on Wednesday ordered the racially charged manslaughter retrial of suspended Miami police officer William Lozano back to Orlando, Fla.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal said that Dade Circuit Judge W. Thomas Spencer erred last year when he moved the case to Tallahassee solely because he wanted a jury with more blacks--the race of the victims.
The appeals court ruled that the judge ignored the rights of the defendant. If the retrial were held in Tallahassee, the justices wrote, it would be so fraught with legal error that any conviction would likely be overturned again.
Spencer later issued an order setting a May 17 trial date.
Lozano, 33, is charged with manslaughter in the fatal 1989 shooting of a black motorcyclist, whose motorcycle crashed, killing a passenger who also was black.
Their deaths touched off three nights of looting and burning in Miami.
Lozano was convicted by a racially mixed jury in Miami. An appeals court overturned that verdict, ruling that jurors were influenced by a fear of more rioting.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
