Rep. Dreier on King Verdict

* I don’t usually write letters, but David Dreier’s “The Injustice System Skews Value of a Life” (Commentary, April 26) demands a response. Rep. Dreier (R-San Dimas) should know better. The jury system is the cornerstone of participatory democracy.

Dreier’s statement that compensatory damage awards are designed to compensate a victim for a portion of his injuries shows a lack of understanding of the law. Compensatory damages are intended to fully compensate the victim for injuries suffered as a result of the negligent or intentional acts of others. To award compensation for only “a portion” of a victim’s injuries would be to deny him his full cup of justice.

Dreier notes that Rodney King had previously been convicted of assaulting a man with a metal pipe. If that injured man had pursued his legal rights to a judgment against King, he could now enforce that judgment against any financial award paid to King.

In suggesting that the Legislature enact caps on awards of pain and suffering and that compensation should reflect the value that society places on individuals, Dreier overlooks that a jury verdict represents the decision made by 12 members of society as to the value of the plaintiff’s claims. The jury was not required to award King $3.8 million; they could have awarded him much less, or nothing at all. So long as both sides in a fair trial are vigorously represented by competent counsel, trial juries should be permitted to render verdicts that reflect the conclusions of 12 members of the community, based on the law and the evidence presented.

CRAIG ALAN KLEIN, Attorney

San Diego

* As an elected legislator, Dreier may fairly be assumed to be more conversant with the law than the average citizen. As such, he has done us a disservice in failing to be more explicit in his column on King. He decries the fact that King is to be compensated for “injuries he received while committing a crime.” My own understanding was that King received his injuries while lying on the ground being pounded like a 50-cent steak by four physically fit and heavily armed police officers wielding large wooden sticks. In all the times I watched that video in horror and revulsion, I was unaware that he was engaging in criminal activity.

Dreier also does an obscene disservice to the memory of LAPD Officer Christy Hamilton by invoking her name in this connection. Ms. Hamilton was tragically shot down in the line of duty, the random victim of a mindless assassin. She died heroically, facing the risks she knew she would face before she ever pinned on a badge.

King, on the other hand, unarmed, and unable even to rise, was viciously assaulted and battered by people who had taken an oath to protect us citizens, the same oath that Officer Hamilton took.

There is no basis whatever for comparison. If King had not received a dime, that would have had absolutely no effect on the compensation received by Ms. Hamilton’s survivors. Her case has no shred of relevance to the King verdict. Dreier, in unabashed demagoguery, has grossly insulted her memory and, by extension, the memory of all officers who died in the line of duty.

TOM HART

Costa Mesa

* As a staunch Democrat, I must say that I found it refreshing to read Rep. Dreier’s perspective on King. Like Dreier, I, too, was deeply troubled by the apparent use of excessive force used to bring King under control. But never did I lose sight of the fact that King was a convicted criminal, driving under the influence of either drugs or alcohol and evading arrest while leading the police on a high-speed chase.

I was shocked at King’s $3.8-million award and outraged to learn that the federal government only reimburses the family of officers killed in the line of duty a mere $123,530. It is unconscionable that 12 supposedly reasonable jurors came to the conclusion that injuries to a convicted criminal, which he received while breaking the law and resisting arrest, are of greater value than the life of a police officer. Dreier’s conclusions are correct. This jury proved that in Los Angeles, crime does indeed pay--and it pays big!

TONY LEONHARDT

Los Angeles