Editing 1992 Los Angeles riots (section)

===Charges and trial===
The [[Los Angeles County District Attorney]] subsequently charged four police officers, including one sergeant, with assault and use of excessive force.<ref name="NYT_19920306">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/06/us/police-beating-trial-opens-with-replay-of-videotape.html |title=Police Beating Trial Opens With Replay of Videotape |work=The New York Times |date=March 6, 1992 |first=Seth |last=Mydans |access-date=April 20, 2010}}</ref> Due to the extensive media coverage of the arrest, the trial received a [[change of venue]] from [[Los Angeles County]] to [[Simi Valley]] in neighboring [[Ventura County, California|Ventura County]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-abcarian-simi-valley-20170507-story.html|title=An aggravating anniversary for Simi Valley, where a not-guilty verdict sparked the '92 L.A. riots|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|first=Robin |last=Abcarian|date= May 7, 2017|access-date=May 7, 2017}}</ref> The jury had no members who were entirely African American.<ref>{{cite news|last=Serrano|first=Richard|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-03-mn-2987-story.html|title=Jury Picked for King Trial; No Blacks Chosen|date=March 3, 1992|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=March 4, 2020}}</ref> The jury was composed of nine white Americans (three women, six men), one biracial man,<ref name="laist_20120428">{{cite news |url=http://laist.com/2012/04/28/rodney_king_juror_talks_for_the_fir.php |title=Rodney King Juror Talks About His Black Father and Family For the First Time |work=laist |date=April 28, 2012 |access-date=March 8, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504013335/http://laist.com/2012/04/28/rodney_king_juror_talks_for_the_fir.php |archive-date=May 4, 2012 }}</ref> one Latin American woman, and one [[Asian American|Asian-American]] woman.<ref name="NYT_19920506">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/06/us/after-the-riots-a-juror-describes-the-ordeal-of-deliberations.html |title=After the riots; A Juror Describes the Ordeal of Deliberations |work=The New York Times |date=May 6, 1992 |access-date=March 4, 2011}}</ref> The prosecutor, Terry White, was black.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/trials24.htm |title=Jurist – The Rodney King Beating Trials |publisher=Jurist.law.pitt.edu |access-date=August 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826053233/http://www.jurist.law.pitt.edu/trials24.htm |archive-date=August 26, 2010 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/white.jpg Law.umkc.edu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070417235534/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/white.jpg |date=April 17, 2007 }}</ref>

On April 29, 1992, the seventh day of [[Deliberation|jury deliberations]], the jury acquitted all four officers of assault and acquitted three of the four of using excessive force. The jury [[Hung jury|could not agree on a verdict]] for the fourth officer charged with using excessive force.<ref name="NYT_19920506"/> The verdicts were based in part on the first three seconds of a blurry, 13-second segment of the videotape that, according to journalist [[Lou Cannon]], had not been aired by television news stations in their broadcasts.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/authors_corner/jan-june98/cannon_4-7.html |title=Online NewsHour Forum: Authors' Corner with Lou Cannon – April 7, 1998 |publisher=Pbs.org |access-date=August 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100812192824/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/authors_corner/jan-june98/cannon_4-7.html |archive-date=August 12, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=All 4 Acquitted in King Beating : Verdict Stirs Outrage; Bradley Calls It Senseless: Trial: Ventura County jury rejects charges of excessive force in episode captured on videotape. A mistrial is declared on one count against Officer Powell|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-30-mn-1942-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 30, 1992 |first=Richard A.|last=Serrano}}</ref>

The first two seconds of videotape,<ref>{{cite web |author=doug linder |url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/kingvideo.html |title=videotape |publisher=Law.umkc.edu |access-date=August 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100823001955/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/kingvideo.html |archive-date=August 23, 2010 }}</ref><!-- do NOT remove that citation please, it shows the complete video --> contrary to the claims made by the accused officers, show King attempting to flee past Laurence Powell. During the next one minute and 19 seconds, King is beaten continuously by the officers. The officers testified that they tried to restrain King before the videotape's starting point physically, but King could throw them off physically.<ref>The American edition of the [[National Geographic Channel]] aired the program "The Final Report: The L.A. Riots" on October 4, 2006 10 pm [[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]], approximately 27 minutes into the hour (including commercial breaks).</ref>

Afterward, the prosecution suggested that the jurors may have acquitted the officers due to them becoming desensitized to the beating's violence, as the defense played the videotape repeatedly in slow motion, breaking it down until its emotional impact was lost.<ref name=":3" />

Outside the Simi Valley courthouse where the acquittals were delivered, county sheriff's deputies protected Stacey Koon from angry protesters on the way to his car. Movie director [[John Singleton]], who was in the crowd at the courthouse, predicted, "By having this verdict, what these people done, they lit the fuse to a bomb."<ref>CNN Documentary ''Race + Rage: The Beating of Rodney King'', aired originally on March 5, 2011; approximately 14 minutes into the hour (not including commercial breaks).</ref>