Trial in Taped Beating Moved Again

In yet another reshuffling of the judicial cards, the trial of two Inglewood police officers charged in the videotaped beating of 16-year-old Donovan Jackson was transferred Wednesday from Torrance to a courthouse near Los Angeles International Airport.

And in Auburn, Mitchell Crooks, the amateur videographer who caught the beating on tape, agreed Wednesday to serve 325 days in jail in an old case in Northern California’s Placer County. He had been a fugitive from a misdemeanor hit-and-run conviction until his arrest by Los Angeles prosecutors last month.

The trial move, which was not requested by defense attorneys or prosecutors, was made after Francis J. Hourigan, the Torrance judge assigned to hear the case, disqualified himself. Hourigan wrote in court papers that he had “a substantial doubt” that he could “act impartially in this matter.”

Court spokesman Allan Parachini said the Airport Courthouse “was the appropriate place for this case to go.” Judges may consider geography, safety and courtroom space when placing cases, but the primary concern is ensuring a fair trial, Parachini said.

“We are, however, not insensitive to community concerns and concerns about jury pool issues that are raised,” he said. “But it was not the deciding factor in this case.”

Black civil rights activists protested last week after the case was moved from Inglewood to Torrance, which attorneys said had a whiter, more conservative jury pool than Inglewood.

On Wednesday, civil rights attorney Leo Terrell said the court is “playing a game of politics” and should have sent the case back to Inglewood.

The police officers were indicted by the Los Angeles County Grand Jury last month for the July 6 incident at an Inglewood gas station. Jeremy J. Morse, 24, is charged with assault under color of authority and Bijan Darvish, 25, is charged with filing a false police report. Both have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to return Sept. 5 for a pretrial hearing.

The Airport Courthouse, which opened in 1999, is less than two miles from where Jackson was slammed against a patrol car and punched in the face. It draws from a jury pool “virtually identical” to that of the Inglewood courthouse, Parachini said.

Defense lawyers said Wednesday that the transfer came as a surprise, and that they were still considering whether to ask that the case be moved out of the county.

“This was an assignment that was just thrust upon us,” said Darvish’s lawyer, Ronald Brower. “We have no control.”

The case had been moved to Torrance after Morse’s attorney, John Barnett, challenged Judge John Meigs, the only jurist who hears felony trials in Inglewood. Then it was transferred to Hourigan after prosecutors challenged Judge Andrew C. Kauffman.

The next judge assigned to the case was William Hollingsworth, a retired jurist who works part time. But the Torrance courtroom that Hollingsworth shares with another judge will be occupied in October, when the trial is set to begin. So Kauffman, who supervises the Southwest District, found space in the Airport Courthouse and moved the case there.

District attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said prosecutors’ main concern is that the case be heard in a courthouse where a substantial number of prospective jurors come from the Inglewood area. The office filed a memorandum in downtown Los Angeles in July asking the court to consider assigning the case to the district where the crime occurred.

Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson said the court is sending a message to Inglewood residents that it is not ignoring their concerns.

“I think they know what can happen when they are not responsive to community concerns,” she said, recalling the riots that occurred after a Simi Valley jury acquitted Los Angeles police officers in the Rodney G. King beating case. “They don’t want to be blamed.”

But the defense could question whether the court is bowing to public pressure, Levenson said.

George Bird, a criminal defense attorney in the South Bay, said courts should be independent and not worry about public criticism. “In theory, the court should not be concerned about what the perception is, because people have different perceptions,” he said. “Justice is blind.”

Crooks was identified as a fugitive after he gained instant notoriety from the videotape. When prosecutors sought him for violating probation in his Placer County case, he was publicly supported by several Los Angeles County supervisors and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles).

Crooks failed to surrender as he had promised in 1999 to serve a jail sentence for hit and run, petty theft and drunk driving.

Crooks’ lawyer, Dean Masserman, said his client “was at the mercy of the court” and therefore agreed to an extra 115 days on top of the original sentence of 210 days. Because of credits he can receive in jail, Crooks is expected to be released by the end of the year. Authorities in Placer County originally wanted him to serve an additional 17 months for the probation violation, Masserman said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said Crooks should serve his original time, but should not have been punished for coming forward.

“What he did I think is admirable,” she said Wednesday. “We know [this brutality] happens every day, but unless you have someone who photographs it and puts it right in people’s faces so they see it, you’re never going to get any changes.”