Friday, April 16,1993
The Battalion
Page 5
L.A. reports lower death rates
while city awaits King verdict
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — A police
show of force, the mustering of
troops and pleas for peace during
deliberations in the Rodney King
beating case apparently have
made the streets safer: Authorities
on Wednesday reported a dip in
the murder rate.
"I don't know if we can say
death took a holiday, but it looks
that way," said Scott Carrier, a
spokesman for the county
coroner's office, which handles an
average of five murders daily.
Stung by criticism it was slow
to react to unrest after innocent
verdicts in the state trial a year
ago, law enforcement officials
have put hundreds of additional
officers on the street. National
Guard troops were training at
armories as the jury deliberated
charges that four officers violated
King's federal civil rights when
they beat him March 3,1991.
A police presence has been
noticeable on the streets since
deliberations began Saturday
afternoon.
There were some murders
reported over the weekend,
however the Sheriff's
Department, which handles
unicorporated parts of Los
Angeles county, said no new
murders were reported since
early Monday.
"The high police presence can
contribute to this," Deputy
George Ducoulombier said.
The Los Angeles police said it
didn't yet have statistics, but the
coroner's office, which handles
the entire country, reported no
homicides in the 24-hour period
ending Wednesday morning.
Capt. Patrick Froehle of South
Central's crime-ridden 77th Street
Division, just a mile from the
flashpoint of last year's riots at
Florence and Normandie
avenues, said officers were
pleased with the drop in slayings.
"It may have something to do
with more police on the streets.
Then again, it may have to do
with other things," Froehle said.
Curtis Owens, executive
director of the African American
Community Unity Center, said
community peace efforts also
were helping.
"The real credit goes to the
people of the community working
to develop a presence of peace,"
Owens said. "Gang members and
ex-gang members are cooperating
to help keep crime down right
now."
While Carrier, of the coroner's
office, said the police show of
force was "absolutely"
responsible for the dip in crime,
others criticized it as excessive.
A letter released by the
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
urged police to work with the
community to maintain calm
when the verdicts are announced.
It protested the law enforcement
buildup.
The "a militaristic presence
bristling with potential
confrontation ... could all too
easily spark the reactions
everyone is trying to avoid," said
the letter to Mayor Tom Bradley,
Police Chief Willie Williams and
Sheriff Sherman Block.
Joe Hicks of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
agreed that law enforcement had
gone too far.
"They should be prepared for
a crisis, but at some point this
becomes counterproductive," he
said.
Rioting that began last April 29
after the state trial left 54 people
dead and caused $1 billion in
damages.
No verdict yet from Railey trial,
as jurors dispute over testimony
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — Jurors appeared to be
growing testy Thursday after daylong deliberations
failed to produce a verdict in the attempted murder
trial of ex-minister Walker Railey.
Panel members sent out a series of notes saying
they were "in dispute" over key portions of
testimony.
A late note contained the word "fighting," but it
was scratched out.
Most of the notes posed questions over times
and testimony concerning Railey's activities and
whereabouts the night,his wife was attacked in
April 1987. ' iio.u ; v:
They also included queries about phone calls
and a visit Railey made that evening to the home of
his lover, psychologist Lucy Papillon.
Railey, 45, former pastor of the First United
Methodist Church in Dallas, is accused of trying to
strangle his wife Peggy, who survived but suffered
irreversible brain damage.
If convicted, he could receive up to 20 years in
prison.
Railey said he returned home from Southern
Methodist University that night to find his wife
lying on the garage floor in convulsions and
gasping for air.
He did not reveal his 45-minute rendezvous
with Papillon.
In its notes, the jury said there was a conflict
over the timing of that visit to Papillon's home as
well as the times Papillon said Railey called her that
night.
State District Judge Pat McDowell summoned
jurors from their private chamber and read them
portions of Papillon's testimony.
The judge also gave them the time of Railey's
911 call: 12:43 a.m.
However, McDowell said he could not comply
with a request for the times that five witnesses said
they saw Railey at different libraries on the SMU
campus.
"The law does not permit a general reading back
of testimony," he said.
At day's end, the jury sent out a note asking for
clarification of a phrase in the judge's formal
charge. Again, by law, he could not respond.
Outside the courtroom, defense lawyer Roy
Barrera Sr. said he did not question the jury's
"sincerity" in wanting so much information but
added:
"This situation could get out of hand. We cannot
go back over the trial record and retry the whole
case."
State attorneys said jurors' questions were a
positive sign.
"If they didn't want to see anything and didn't
have conflicts on their deliberations, then I would
worry a little bit about it," said chief prosecutor
Cecil Emerson.
After nearly four weeks in court, and two stormy
days of final arguments, the five men and seven
women of the jury began deliberations at midday
Wednesday.
When they recessed Thursday evening, they had
deliberated a total of 10 hours over two days.
After Railey's testimony this week, his guilt or
innocence seemed to revolve around one
overriding issue:
Did he concoct his phony alibi six years ago to
conceal attempted murder, as the state contends, or
to hide his liaison with Papillon, as the defendant
maintains?
In final summations Wednesday, prosecutor
Emerson described the flashy psychologist as
Railey's "lurid, lustful sexual fantasy" and said he
was obsessed with her.
Forum
Continued from Page 1
Carolyn Adair, director of stu
dent activities at Texas A&M, said
steps were taken to recognize gay
and lesbian students on campus
during the recent plans for the
new student handbook.
"The Gay and Lesbian Student
Services (GLSS) was not included
in previous student handbooks,"
she said. "When we met to dis
cuss the new handbook, we rec
ognized the need to include the
GLSS."
Diversity of religion was also a
major concern raised by students
during the forum.
A Jewish student expressed his
discomfort about the Christian in
vocations, delivered at campus
events. "Texas A&M students
should be aware that there are
spiritual denominations on cam
pus besides Christians," he said.
The University is trying to
make students more conscious
about the number of non-Christ
ian students at Texas A&M, Adair
said.
"We're trying to make sure
that everyone understands the
fact that there are more than just
Christians on campus," she said.
"Our policy is to do an invocation
at football games and graduation,
but we tell the presenters to do a
nondenominational invocation."
Texas A&M has a long journey
ahead to end discrimination on
campus, Powell said.
"We have to do everything we
can as administrators, students
and educators to improve percep
tion," she said. "It's a matter of at
titudes changing slowly."
260-2660
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Math
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Sun. 4T8,4-6pm
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Phys. 218
Sunday 4/19
Sun. 4ri8, 6-9pm
Review Chap. 7&8
Tue. 4/20, llpm-lam
Chapter 9
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11pm
lam
Monday 4/18
Tuesday 4/20
Wednesday 4/21
Phys. 201
Chaps.
14.15.16
Phys. 201
Chaps.
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Phys. 201
Chap. 19
Practice Exam
Yarich
Phys. 218
Chaps.
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Phys. 218
Chap. 16 &
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Phys. 218
Practice Exams
AlleiyUixon
Phys. 202
Chap. 37
Phys. 202
Chap. 38
Phys. 202
Chaps. 39/41
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Thursday 4/22
Phys. 201
Practice Exam
8pm
Bryan/Ross
Phys. 202
Practice Exam
10pm
Ford/Duller
Tickets go on
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Math 251/253
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