Official Negligence by Lou Cannon, Chpts 15-18

In Chapters 15, 16, 17 and 18 Cannon effectively investigates what was going on behind the scenes, uncovering the "official negligence" surrounding the second case.  Cannon reflects the damage the legal mind games between Braun, Stone and Judge Davies; though the memo "did not contain much that the defense could not have figured out for itself," it created unnecessary drama between the different defense lawyers and wasted valuable time (402).  Because the situation was handled so poorly by all three parties, "instead of equalizing the odds, the memorandum damaged the defense it was intended to help" (404).  In addition, the media manipulated the vulnerability of the city in its portrayals of the trial, running stories on the necessity for a guilty verdict of the city was to ever recover form the riots of 1992 (405).  The trial itself was also run poorly; Cannon states that the defense and prosecution basically ran circles around each other, choosing jurors based mostly on race alone.  Cannon reveals "Both government and defense lawyers presumed much and knew little about the jury candidates whose merits they debated.  The Watts man proved a competent juror who listened to the evidence, leaned initially toward acquittals, and eventually went along with the majority... Braun was wrong... Salzman wrong... and Clymer wrong" (410).  True that Cannon has the benefit of hindsight, but you would think a defense as premier as this would have more intelligence than to resort to blatant racial stereotyping.  As Braun said during the trial "'We survived the prosecution just fine.  The questions is whether we can survive the defense'" (430).  The defense was its own worst enemy because of miscommunication and ignorance.