Jury Selected for Retrial of Ex-Inglewood Officer Charged With Assaulting Teen
Attorneys selected a jury Thursday in the retrial of former Inglewood police officer Jeremy Morse, who was caught on videotape in July 2002 slamming a teenager against a patrol car.
The jury consists of seven women and five men, according to defense attorney John Barnett.
Two jurors are black. The case involves racial overtones because the officer is white and Donovan Jackson, then 16, is black.
During jury selection in the first trial, Superior Court Judge William R. Hollingsworth ordered a 19-year-old black man back on the jury after he had been excused by defense attorneys. Prosecutors had accused defense attorneys of excluding jurors based on race.
Morse was charged with assault under the color of authority.
Prosecutors said Morse used unnecessary force; his attorney maintained that Morse was doing what he was trained to do when facing resistance.
Hollingsworth declared a mistrial after jurors had deadlocked in the first trial. The same jurors found Morse’s former partner, Bijan Darvish, not guilty of writing a false police report.
Opening statements are scheduled for Wednesday at the courthouse near Los Angeles International Airport.
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