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LOS ANGELES -- The District Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles has decided to retry former Inglewood Officer Jeremy Morse on a charge of assault under color of authority.
Morse is a white police officer charged in connection with the violent arrest of a black teenager.
D.A. Steve Cooley, whose announcement came one day after the jury said it was deadlocked, said he would ask the judge to schedule a new trial within 60 days.
“It is important for the community that this case be resolved,” Cooley said. “The community has set a national example of restraint and good citizenship in light of this case,and we can do nothing less than assure that this former police officer is judged in a court of law by a jury selected from the community where this occurred.”
The judge declared a hung jury Tuesday after it deadlocked seven to five in favor of convicting the ex-Inglewood officer. An onlooker’s video of last year’s incident shows Morse slamming the handcuffed young man onto the trunk of a car.
Regarding his request for an unusually quick retrial, Cooley said, “there is no reason to wait. The evidence is there. The witnesses are ready.”
The jury, which said it had deadlocked 7-5 in favor of conviction, also acquitted Officer Jeremy Morse’s partner, Bijan Darvish, who had been charged with filing a false police report.
Superior Court Judge William Hollingsworth had scheduled the next court hearing for Sept. 22, but Cooley said he would ask for an earlier date. The judge said a retrial would begin Sept. 29 if one was to be held, but Cooley said he also wanted that date moved up.
Morse’s attorney John Barnett, did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday.
Barnett said Tuesday he would ask the judge to dismiss the charge against Morse.
Race was never mentioned at trial but the image of a white officer battering a black youth made national headlines and sparked angry protests in the heavily minority city of Inglewood.
A coalition of government, church and community leaders urged calm, hoping to prevent riots like the ones that devastated the city after white police officers were acquitted in 1992 of state charges in the videotaped beating of King, a black motorist.
Prosecutors had described Morse as an “out-of-control officer” during the two-week trial, but defense attorney John Barnett argued Morse was doing his job as an officer and only had seconds to decide how much force to use against a potentially dangerous subject.
Barnett said Morse responded reasonably to a suspect who could have posed a threat to him and other officers.
Race wasn’t mentioned in the trial, but black leaders say the videotape should have been enough to convict Morse. Defense attorney John Barnett said the impact of the tape was lessened by favorable testimony from use-of-force experts.
Cooley had until Sept. 22 to decide whether to retry Morse.
The jury acquitted Morse’s ex-partner of falsifying a police report.
After the verdict was read, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, the president of National Alliance for Positive Action, said that the District Attorney “has to refile the charges against Officer Jeremy Morse. We’re not satisfied with the verdict. The world saw the abuse. We want justice. Justice demands punishment for that officer. We have worked very hard to keep the peace in the community, but we must have justice in the courtroom.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.