ALL-WHITE Jury Acquits Austin Police Officers in Videotaped Beating of Unarmed, Handcuffed Latino Man

NAACP calls for retrial
Jurors Deliberated for less than 2 hours

The local NAACP chapter spoke out, Monday, against the acquittal of two Austin Police Department officers accused of beating a handcuffed man and firing a stun gun at him. They are accused of punching Ramon Hernandez, 25, on the legs and back and shocking him at least once after he was facedown and in handcuffs. Officer Christopher Gray and former officer William Heilman were found not guilty of official oppression on Friday. The NAACP has called for a retrial. The jury was shown a videotape of the officers punching Ramon Hernandez, while he was on the ground. The all white jury didn't give Hernandez a fair trial, The Austin NAACP said. "You want a balanced point of view, but look, the other thing is the issue that this man was beaten while down and subdued in handcuffs. That is against the law. Nobody is addressing that. We're sorry the cops had a bad day, but he was beaten while handcuffed," Linder said. Judge Jon Wisser presided over the case in the 299th District Court. He says no matter the race, it's always been difficult to prosecute officers in Travis County. Still, he admits the face of a jury makes a difference. "There's no doubt that Anglo males of my age are much less likely to have had unpleasant encounters with the police than people or people who belong to a minority race. You can see that every day, and it's common knowledge," Wisser said. [more] and [more] and [more and [more]

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Justice Department Should Investigate Police Beating
Now that a jury has weighed in, the U.S. Department of Justice should investigate whether three Austin police officers violated the civil rights of Ramon Hernandez. It took less than two hours for an all-white jury of six people to acquit officers William Bradley Heilman, 31, and Christopher Gray, 28, for beating and using their stun guns on Hernandez while he was handcuffed and facedown on the ground. Rookie officer Joel Follmer, 37, also faces criminal misdemeanor charges for official oppression in a separate case that is pending. The jury's verdict left many people scratching their heads. Like the infamous Rodney King case, the officers had been captured on video punching, kicking and standing on Hernandez's neck. The jury sided with Heilman of Pflugerville, and Gray of Georgetown, who said their actions amounted to self-defense because they were in a life-or-death struggle with Hernandez. The officers asserted that it was necessary to use that kind of force to bring Hernandez under control. Each officer outweighed Hernandez by 70 pounds. [more]