Unlikely Heroes

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Tom's Liquors was one of thousands of local businesses that were looted in South Central Los Angeles last April. Today the Korean-owned convenience store is back to normal. But outside in the parking lot, just yards from where white truck driver Reginald O. Denny was nearly beaten to death, another minority enterprise has sprung up. It is a makeshift stand selling $5 and $10 T shirts emblazoned with the slogan: JUSTICE FOR THE LA 4. LET MY PEOPLE GO. And who are the L.A. 4? They are the very men who ripped Denny from the cab of his truck, then robbed, bludgeoned and kicked him senseless on the afternoon that the riots began.

The brisk sales of those T shirts, and the popularity of their message, are the latest signs of a rising current of black dissatisfaction with a criminal justice system that many believe does not treat them fairly. Outraged by the acquittals of four white Los Angeles police officers tried for the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King, an increasing number of L.A.'s African Americans are taking up the cause of the L.A. 4, who became five last month when another man was arrested in connection with the incident. Says Celes King III, state chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality: "The support has come because so many people feel that there but by faith could be one of their relatives."

The arrested men, who were identified from a television news videotape, are described by police as criminals linked to a vicious South Central gang known as the 8-Trey Gangster Crips. But supporters see the defendants as five young black men being scapegoated by a racist legal system that will not give them a fair trial. Says Compton City Councillor Patricia Moore: "The greatest fears we have are not of gangs, but of the criminal justice system." With 25% of all black men between 20 and 29 years old in prison, on parole or on probation, Moore is convinced the five will not receive a fair trial. Moore, like many others, argues that these defendants should be released just as the four white police officers who beat King were acquitted.

Allegations of two-tiered justice rose immediately after the predawn arrest of the first three suspects. L.A. County District Attorney Ira Reiner was criticized for political "grandstanding" a week before the primary elections for arraigning the four on nearly 40 charges, including attempted murder. Because of what their attorneys have termed "inflated" and unfounded charges, bail was set at $500,000 to $580,000 for three of them. All four of the original defendants, plus the fifth arrested last month, remain in custody awaiting trial. Though no trial date has been set, preliminary hearings will be held for all five on July 31.

Their lawyers and supporters say the L.A. 5 are being treated like convicted criminals, though none of the charges against them have been proved. "Holding them in jail creates a punishment for these men who should be considered innocent until they are proven guilty," says Dennis Palmieri, the lead attorney for defendant Damian Williams. Not so, says Reiner. "There is only a single standard of justice," he says. "That standard is that where a crime has been committed, it will be investigated and it will be prosecuted."