Quote Originally Posted by Firstgear View Post
Nobody seems to know exactly what happened because of conflicting eye witness accounts. But as far as the riots are concerned, I think a few things need to be considered:

- this happened in an area with a predominately black population.
- the panel/jury making the decision whether to charge the cop or not was made up of 9 white & 3 black members.
- the panel did not have to be unanimous in its decision, only needed a majority of 9 members (and votes are kept secret).

If this panel was made up to be more representative of the population (or have to be unanimous), and the same conclusion was reached it would be difficult to call it a race issue.

As it stands, with 9 votes needed and 9 whites in the panel, it's easy to turn it into a race issue - resulting in riots.
I'm no legal expert here but would the jury members not have to have been screened and approved by both the prosecution and defense?