Powell’s Retrial in Beating Case

So, Powell is to be the sacrificial lamb? I hope that his certain conviction placates everybody--the whites, the blacks, the police, the politicians who are riding the emotional groundswell. Everybody. However, justice will not have been served, for it is the system that has failed, and it is the system that should be on trial.

The system has failed Rodney King, who, whatever his infraction, did not deserve an indiscriminate pummeling. The system has failed Powell, who should have been better trained by the Los Angeles Police Department, and better controlled by his supervisor, Sgt. Stacey Koon. But, and most important, the system has failed the people of Los Angeles County. For it is they who must pay for the whole thing: the 25 cops who could not make a simple arrest, the trial, the retrial, the lawsuits filed by King, the untold cost of the riots. You tell me who is taking the beating!

DAN JENSEN, San Clemente