D.A. Meets With Black Leaders on Fairness Issue

Recognizing the racial sensitivities underlying O.J. Simpson’s prosecution on charges of double murder, Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti met for nearly two hours Tuesday with prominent members of Los Angeles’ African American community, who emphasized their misgivings about whether the football great is being treated fairly.

Among those in attendance were some of the best-known names in black Los Angeles--the Rev. Cecil Murray of First African Methodist Episcopal Church; John Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban League; Joseph Duff of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People; civil rights attorney Connie Rice; Joe Hicks of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; attorney Johnnie L. Cochran, and Judge Roosevelt Dorn, whose voluntary transfer in January left the Downtown criminal courts bench with no blacks.

Emerging with Mack from the private meeting at the Urban League headquarters in the Crenshaw district, the district attorney said he assured the group that Simpson will get a fair trial.

“We’re interested in fairness for Mr. Simpson and that’s my interest also,” Garcetti said. “But we’re also interested in fairness to the victims and interested in fairness, frankly, for the community as a whole.”

Mack said the group of ministers, lawyers, civil rights leaders and others made suggestions to Garcetti designed to ensure that Simpson receives a fair trial and that blacks would perceive it in that way.

Among those suggestions, Mack said, was a strong one that the district attorney integrate the all-white, all-male panel that will decide whether the death penalty should be sought against the former football great.

Mack said Garcetti was also pressed to ensure that the jury that will decide Simpson’s fate be racially mixed. “It is essential,” Mack said, “that O.J. Simpson be tried by a jury that is representative of the immense diversity of this city, including African Americans.”

Potential jurors, Mack said, should be closely questioned about their attitudes on interracial marriages to weed out anyone “blinded by any hang-ups they may have about an African American man being married to a white woman.”

The group further emphasized the dangers of either side adopting a win-at-any-cost strategy, throwing justice--for Simpson and for the victims--to the wind.

“Two people were brutally murdered here, that sometimes gets lost,” Mack said. “We are concerned that the guilty parties are brought to justice. If O.J. Simpson did it, then he should go to jail.”

Simpson, who is black, has maintained his innocence in the June 12 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Lyle Goldman, both of whom were white. Simpson is expected to be arraigned Friday in preparation for his murder trial, which could begin in September.

Meanwhile, a source close to the case said Simpson will offer a reward of at least $250,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the “real” killer. “It’ll come within the next couple of days,” the source said of the reward, which is expected to be announced at a news conference.

In recent days, questions have been raised by some legal analysts about the defense’s lack of apparent effort in locating the true assailant if Simpson is not guilty.

The meeting Tuesday, which Garcetti sought and Mack arranged, could be potentially significant for the district attorney. Nineteen months ago, after prosecutors lost the state case against officers accused of beating Rodney G. King, Garcetti promised African Americans and other ethnic groups that he would restore credibility to the criminal justice system.

That court defeat in Simi Valley led to the deadliest riots in the United States in this century. Many believe racial divisions remain high in Los Angeles.

At the news conference, Garcetti emphasized that the gathering Tuesday was one of several he has conducted in various communities throughout the county to get feedback on many issues, including the Simpson case.

Last week, he said, he met with representatives of Jewish organizations.

Mack emphasized that he does not view the Simpson case, in and of itself, as a racial issue. But he said that African Americans in general, and historically, have had deep suspicions that they are too often treated unfairly in America’s court system.

The perception of bias against blacks was deepened in Los Angeles, he said, with the verdicts in the King beating case and the case of Soon Ja Du, a Korean-born grocer, who fatally shot a black teen-ager in the back of the head in 1991 after they fought over a container of orange juice.

Although Du was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, she was given a fine and sentenced to probation and community service, an outcome that enraged many people of all races, but especially blacks.

On Tuesday, Mack cited polls that show wide disparities in the attitudes of whites and blacks toward Simpson’s arrest and prosecution.

A Field Poll released Tuesday shows that 62% of the whites questioned, compared to 38% of the blacks, said Simpson is “very likely or somewhat likely” to be guilty of murder. Fifty-five percent of whites interviewed said they think Simpson can get a fair trial, compared to 35% of blacks.

Mack was asked about reports that a white detective who found a key piece of evidence against Simpson on the former athlete’s estate had used a racial slur to refer to blacks. The Urban League president took the opportunity to warn both the defense and the prosecution about the danger of injecting racial issues into the case when there is no basis for it.

“I would hope that people would not forget the literal hell this community has gone through the last two or three years,” he said, referring to the events leading up to and after the riots.

Garcetti said he had intended to maintain the privacy of the meeting with Mack and the others, but could not because of the almost unprecedented interest the media has about anything to do with the Simpson case.

Responding to Mack’s criticism of his all-white death penalty committee, made up of top administrators in his office, Garcetti said the issue “is of concern in the perception of fairness.” He made no commitment to integrate the panel--which until recently included a black woman who was elevated to a federal judgeship two months ago--or to take specific action on the other issues raised by the group.

As for the death penalty, Mack said he told Garcetti he is “categorically opposed” to it on moral grounds and because Death Rows “throughout California and throughout the nation” are disproportionately filled with black people.

“There is no circumstance that would justify the death penalty because we don’t need to add another person to that already crowded line,” Mack said.