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]