LOS ANGELES : King Jury Asks Judge’s Help in Defining Terms
The jury considering punitive damages in Rodney G. King’s lawsuit asked the judge for help Monday in defining some terms that use-of-force witnesses mentioned during the trial.
The panel made its request in a note, the seventh in five days of deliberations.
The six women and three men wanted to know the definitions of “combative resistance, aggressive resistance and active resistance.” These were terms bandied about repeatedly during trial, especially by the use-of-force witnesses.
U.S. District Judge John G. Davies told the panel those terms were “not subject to legal interpretation. Give them whatever definition you think is appropriate.”
The panel that awarded King $3.8 million in compensatory damages on April 19 has spent more than 30 hours deliberating in the second phase of the trial.
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