re rodney king trial civil rights violations double jeopardy in article c pul cl ncratl atlantaga ncr com mwilson ncratl atlantaga ncr com mark wilson writes in apr husc harvard edu spanagel husc harvard edu david spanagel writes furthermore what are the specific charges against the four lapd officers which civil rights or laws are they accused of violating i believe it is a general charge that is no specific right is mentioned i don t think that this is accurate i believe and could be wrong that there is a specific right allegedly to have been violated like the th or due process or whatever what about double jeopardy has there been any concern that a verdict against koon et al might be overturned upon appeal because they re being tried again for the same actions i thought i heard something on the news about this the ss has previously ruled that since the seperate governments were in essence seperate sovereigns then double jeopardy does not apply if this is true then could defendents also be tried under city and county governments this mornings paper said that the aclu has decided to reinstate its opposition to this kind of thing they had earlier suspended their opposition while they examined the king case there might be hope for the aclu after all double jeopardy does not apply but not for the reasons you quote double jeopardy states that a person may not be tried twice on the same charge however the police are not on trial for the crime of excessive force or assault they are now on trial for the different crime of violating mr king s civil rights as for the city and county or state trying you more than once it most likely will not happen this is because cities and states have separate laws governing behaviour for example in some states it is an offence to carry marijuana but not a city offence also i think murder is against federal but not some state laws and my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read richard cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head
