A Slap for a Broken Head

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The actions of police and prosecutors helped weight the trial with symbolism. The uncommon spectacle of Williams being arrested at home, in front of TV cameras, by no less a figure than then police chief Daryl Gates, strengthened the case of those who said the accused were being made scapegoats for the entire riot. When Williams and Watson, along with co-defendants Antoine Miller and Gary Williams, were booked on high bail -- $580,000 for Williams alone -- it added power to that argument. For the jury, signals from outside the court may have been too much, compelling them to aim for an outcome in the Denny trial roughly equivalent to that obtained in the Rodney King case. When the scales of justice were weighing the evidence, they may also have been balancing two videotapes.