Lawyer accuses Learning Disabled Black teen in rough Inglewood arrest of perjury

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  • Police officer's attorney wants the alleged victim in the brutality case to be prosecuted.
The developmentally disabled teen whose rough arrest in Inglewood was depicted in an amateur videotape is being accused of perjury for giving conflicting testimony about the controversial incident that sparked criminal charges against two officers. The attorney for one of the officers, Inglewood police officer Bijan Darvish, sent a letter Friday to Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley asking for the investigation and prosecution of Donovan Jackson for seven potential counts of perjury. For example, Jackson told a grand jury and jurors in two criminal trials that he never resisted or grabbed the Inglewood officers or sheriff's deputies during the July 6, 2002, scuffle at an Inglewood gas station, according to the letter penned by attorney Corey W. Glave. But in sworn depositions taken in his federal civil rights lawsuit against Darvish, former officer Jeremy Morse, the city of Inglewood, Los Angeles County and other officers, Jackson admitted he grabbed Morse by the collar area while they were both on the ground, Glave claims. "We understand that it may be tempting to view these contradictions as simple failures of recollection, or innocent mistakes of fact, but in actuality, the counts chronicled and the supporting evidence contained with them indicate the calculated, malicious effort of this young man to obstruct justice and mislead finders of fact in order to obtain financial gains," Glave wrote. "Mr. Jackson has deliberately engaged in perjurious testimony as it relates to material and relevant facts and these charges deserve to be fairly investigated and prosecuted," Glave added. Jackson, who was 16 at the time of the arrest, was a witness for the prosecution before the grand jury and in the criminal trials. A special education coordinator testified during the trials that the Leuzinger High School graduate has disabilities that affect his abilities to process information, making it difficult for him to follow directions, remember events and express himself. [more]
  • Pictured above: Donovan Jackson & Inglewood's finest.