Calif. gay marriage ban headed to U.S. Supreme Court

SAN FRANCISCO – The sponsors of California’s same-sex marriage ban said Tuesday that they plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a landmark appellate court ruling that struck down the law as unconstitutional.

Alliance Defense Fund lawyer Brian Raum said Proposition 8 backers “absolutely” would take the case to the high court now that it has run its course at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Raum said he expected to get a ruling from the Supreme Court sometime in the fall on whether it would take the case. He did not know if the Proposition 8 defense team would take the entire 90 days they have to petition the Supreme Court.

The move follows a federal appeals court’s refusal to revisit a decision by two of its member judges declaring the voter-approved ban to be a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians in California.

Backers of the ban petitioned the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February to review the decision instead of appealing directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gay marriage opponents said at the time they would go to the high court if the appeals court declined to rehear the case.

Same sex unions were briefly legal in California before voters passed Proposition 8 in November 2008. Because of the ongoing legal wrangling, it’s unlikely the practice will resume in the state anytime soon.

The 9th Circuit said Tuesday that a majority of its 26 actively serving judges had voted not to revisit a three-judge panel’s 2-1 decision declaring the voter-approved ban to be a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians in California.

The 9th Circuit does not often agree to rehear cases, a procedure known as en banc review. Federal court rules reserve the practice for appeals that involve “a question of exceptional importance” or if the original decision appears to conflict with Supreme Court or 9th Circuit precedents.

After voters approved Proposition 8, two unmarried couples sued to overturn the ban in May 2009, and their lawsuit gave rise the next year to the first federal trial to examine if states can prohibit gays from getting married without violating the constitutional guarantee of equality. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ultimately sided with the couples.

The ban’s sponsors appealed, and the split 9th Circuit panel affirmed Walker’s finding that Proposition 8 violated those civil rights. But, instead of finding any gay marriage ban would be unconstitutional, the panel limited its decision to California, saying Proposition 8 improperly took away an existing right.

Several other high-profile same-sex cases also are making their way toward the high court. A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared last week that the federal law that prohibits recognition of same-sex couples unconstitutionally denies Social Security and other federal spousal benefits to married gay couples.

 

4 shot after suspected Fullerton bar fight

FULLERTON – Four people suffered gunshot wounds early Saturday in what police here described as a spillover from a possible bar fight.

No one appeared to have life-threatening injuries, the Fullerton Police Department said in a news release.

Officers responded at 1:42 a.m. to the 2 J’s Bar, 120 W. Houston Ave., to reports of multiple gunshots fired in the parking lot.

Three gunshot victims were taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange and one to the Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, where they remain hospitalized, authorities said.

The investigation is continuing and anyone with information is asked to the call Fullerton police at 714-738-6838.

 

Dalai Lama Poison Plot: China Denies Plans To Assassinate Tibetan Leader

BEIJING — China accused the Dalai Lama of being deceitful Monday after he reportedly alleged that Chinese agents trained Tibetan women to assassinate him by planting poison in their hair for him to touch during blessings.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the Tibetan spiritual leader’s allegations, reported in the London-based Sunday Telegraph newspaper, were not worth refuting, but added that he generally spreads false information.

“The Dalai always wears religious clothes while carrying out anti-China separatist activities in the global community, spreading false information and deceiving the public,” spokesman Hong Lei said at a routine daily news briefing.

The nationalistic tabloid the Global Times further scorned the allegations in a commentary, saying that if China had wanted to kill the Dalai Lama it could have done so any time without waiting until he was 76 years old.

The Tibetan Buddhist leader told the Telegraph he had been warned that the Chinese government was training female Tibetan agents to put poison in their hair or scarves and to seek his blessings or touch his hand.

Hundreds of thousands of people take pilgrimages each year to northern Indian town of Dharmsala, where the Dalai Lama lives under tight security. Huge crowds also surround him during his travels abroad. The Tibetan leader usually places his hand over the heads of devotees seeking his blessing.

He told the newspaper he may ending up being the last Dalai Lama because of Chinese interference in finding his reincarnation after his death.

 

INLAND: Child-molester priest released from jail

An Ontario priest convicted of molesting a boy from his parish has been released from jail, and an attorney for the victim’s family has accused the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino of not doing enough to keep track of him.

The Rev. Alejandro “Alex” Jose Castillo, 59, was released April 21 after serving fewer than eight months of his 1-year sentence.

Attorney John Manly said the family of the boy, who was 12 when Castillo molested him in 2008, is worried by sightings of the priest in Ontario and elsewhere in the Inland area.

The boy’s older brother also alleges abuse but charges were not filed in his case because the statute of limitations had expired.

“The kids are petrified,” said Manly, who is representing the family in a lawsuit against the diocese. “How would you feel if you were the kid and the guy who molested you is out of jail?”

Castillo registered as a sex offender with the Ontario Police Department within the required five days after his release, said Ontario police Sgt. David McBride. He said he did not know if Castillo is living in Ontario.

The diocese told Castillo before he was jailed Aug. 31, 2011, that church officials wanted to talk with him immediately upon release, to discuss his living arrangements, diocesan spokesman John Andrews said. The diocese wants to ensure Castillo will not be a threat to children, he said.

“We’re concerned we haven’t been able to meet with him,” Andrews said.

He said the diocese believes Castillo is staying with a brother in the Inland area, but he did not know in which city. Diocesan officials have talked with Castillo’s attorney, Michael Scafiddi, Andrews said.

Scafiddi, who has an office in San Bernardino, did not return repeated phone calls for comment.

Andrews said diocese officials had planned to publicly disclose Castillo’s release once they had determined the priest’s whereabouts.

Bishop Gerald Barnes has permanently barred Castillo from performing public ministry within the diocese, he said.

Manly was incredulous the diocese couldn’t locate one of its priests.

“I think the diocese knows exactly where he is,” he said. “This guy is a clear and present danger to the community.”

Supporters threw a huge celebration in Ontario for Castillo a day or so after his release, said Ted Campos, a Fontana man who in 2010 founded the Coalition to Exonerate Fr. Alex after allegations against the priest were made public.

Campos said he saw as many as 150 people at the home where the party took place, and more arrived before and after he left. He declined to say if children were at the party. Castillo is barred from contact with males younger than 18 unless a probation officer approves.

Campos said Castillo told him he pleaded guilty to abuse to spare the community the emotional turmoil of a trial.

Karen Schmauss, the San Bernardino County deputy district attorney who prosecuted Castillo, said the offense to which he pleaded guilty — lewd and lascivious acts with a child — means his name should be on the state’s Internet sex-offender website. It was not there Tuesday. The site includes ZIP codes or street addresses for offenders.

A California Department of Justice spokesman said names are put on the list after fingerprinting and other verification procedures.

 

Remmers’ son calls out dad

A man who said he is the son of Corona pastor Lonny Remmers responded to a Press-Enterprise story this week that detailed his father’s past. Family members, associates and court documents lay out a legacy of emotional, physical and financial pain left by Remmers.

The person who posted a comment to the story said he was glad he separated himself from Remmers and accused him of brainwashing others. Remmers has pleaded not guilty to assault with a deadly weapon and inflicting corporal injury on a minor, a 13-year-0ld boy.

We haven’t been able to reach Jamison Remmers to confirm that it was he who posted the comment below to that story (here is a link), but I talked to two people this week who confirmed that it was Jamison.

The Press-Enterprise

Lonny Remmers in court

Here is what the poster wrote:

“I wish the punishment was more severe for an idiot who thinks its ok to have about four marriages, two of which he left kids like me to deal with his continuous changes of lifestyles! One day he’d be talking about how he could make a million out of a dollar and the next he’s locked up! His forceful ways caused a lot of us to give up our time for him when he got out n suddenly was holier then the world. In my head another business scheme was on its way! Haven’t talked to the guy in five years and I’m thanking god I got away from him when I did otherwise that could have been me brainwashed in an orange jumpsuit! I hope the inmates do what they do best to disgusting people who prey on innocent children!!! Maybe he should have been paying more attention to the kids he’s messed up along the way. I graduate in a week with my bachelors degree in criminal justice… Did it with out your help dad!”

–

Meanwhile, here is a link to the May 9 story about the court appearances of Lonny Remmers, Nicholas Craig and Darryll Jeter Jr.

 

Afghanistan War: US Secretly Released Detainees From Military Prison

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) – The United States has been secretly releasing detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, the Washington Post reported in its Monday editions.

The “strategic release” program has allowed American officials over the past several years to use prisoners as bargaining chips to reduce violence in restive provinces, it said, citing U.S. officials who it said spoke on condition of anonymity.

The freed detainees are often fighters who would not be released under the legal system for military prisoners in Afghanistan. They must promise to give up violence, the report said.

Officials would not say whether those who have been released have later returned to attack U.S. and Afghan troops, the Post said.

Releases have come amid efforts to end the war through negotiation, which is central to the Obama administration’s strategy for exiting Afghanistan, the report said.

Those efforts have yielded little to no progress in recent years. In part, they have been stymied by the unwillingness of the United States to release five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay – a gesture insurgent leaders have said they see as a precondition for peace talks, the report said.

Unlike at Guantanamo, releasing prisoners from the Parwan detention center does not require congressional approval and can be done secretly, the Post said.

The program’s goal is to quell violence in areas where NATO is unable to ensure security. Releases are intended to produce tactical gains, the Post said.

U.S. officials would not say how many detainees have been released under the program, though they said such cases are relatively rare. The program has existed for several years.

“The Afghans have come to us with information that might strengthen the reconciliation process,” the newspaper quoted U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker as saying. “Many times we do act on it.”

Releases through the secret program from Parwan must be approved by the top U.S. military commander and military lawyer, and are the only exceptions to the prison’s judicial review board, the Post said.

It quoted one official as saying the procedure was “outside of our normal protocol,” the paper said.

 

Supreme Court rejects bid to shield Sheriff Lee Baca from lawsuit

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to shield Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca from being sued for racial gang violence in the jails he supervises.

The justices without comment turned down an appeal from the county’s lawyers, who argued Baca cannot be held personally liable for the stabbing of an inmate since he had no personal involvement in the incident.

Instead, the court let stand a decision of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which said Baca can be sued for “deliberate indifference” to the inmate’s rights since he was on notice of the jailhouse violence and failed to take action to stop it.

Dion Starr says he was stabbed 23 times by Latino gang members at the Central Men’s Jail in 2006. He also says he was kicked in the face by a guard who saw the incident and refused to come to his aid. In his suit, Starr named Baca as well as the guards and deputies who were at the scene.

Sonia Mercado, a lawyer for Starr, said it is important that the county sheriff be named in the suit.

“Unless the supervisor is held accountable, nothing will change. This horrendous misconduct will continue,” she said.

Timothy Coates, a Los Angeles lawyer, appealed to the high court in December, urging the justices to throw out the claim against the sheriff. He said plaintiffs’ lawyers try to win big damages judgments by naming top officials, whether or not they had a personal role in the actual case.

“If you are the head of an agency, you are a big target, and you can get dragged into lots of lawsuits,” he said.

Judges in California had been split over whether there was enough evidence for the suit against Baca to go forward. U.S. District Judge George Wu in Los Angeles threw out the claim against the sheriff in 2008, since there was no evidence personally linking Baca to the jailhouse stabbing.

The Supreme Court in 2009 also made it harder to sue top officials. In a 5-4 decision, it threw out a suit against former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft seeking to hold him liable for the arrest and jailhouse beating of Muslim men following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The court said plaintiffs need specific facts showing a top supervisor was directly involved in a constitutional violation. Afterward, a divided 9th Circuit allowed the suit against Baca to go forward.

 

Child molester wins another shot at freedom

click for more pix

SANTA ANA – A convicted child molester will get another shot at freedom – a fourth trial in six years – after an Orange County judge on Friday paved the way for a jury to determine whether the man’s mental disorder has changed to the extent that he is no longer a danger to others.

The burden of proving the molester remains a sexually violent predator and should stay in a mental hospital now falls to prosecutors.

Superior Court Judge W. Michael Hayes set an Oct. 22 trial date after finding there’s sufficient evidence for Sid Landau’s case to move forward. The 72-year-old, housed at Coalinga State Mental Hospital, was not present at the hearing.

The defense has argued that Landau is too old and too ill to have the sexual impulses that would continue to make him a danger to children.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office opposes Landau’s release, with the latest 2011 medical evaluation saying he still meets the criteria of a sexually violent predator, Deputy District Attorney Dan Wagner said.

Landau made headlines when he was chased from one Orange County home to another in the late 1990s by protesters who did not want a pedophile in their neighborhoods.

An appellate court, in September, ruled a different judge erred when not conducting a hearing two years ago to determine whether Landau should be allowed to argue for his freedom.

Landau was convicted in 1982 of molesting a 10-year-old Anaheim boy and sentenced to three years in prison. He pleaded guilty in 1988 to molesting a 9-year-old boy and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. He served eight years and was paroled in 1996.

He spent the next four years in and out of prison for violating his parole. When his latest prison term ended in 2000, prosecutors filed a petition to have him declared a sexually violent predator, and he was sent to a mental hospital, where he has been confined ever since.

Deputy Public Defender Sara Ross said Friday she was pleased with Hayes’ ruling: “Mr. Landau has served all the time that is required of him, and he deserves an opportunity to be released.”

Wagner said the only thing that has changed is Landau’s age.

“(He is) the same person he was four years ago, and it’s an unnecessary use of judicial resources to try the case again,” the prosecutor said. “A couple of candles on the birthday cake” does not merit a jury trial.

 

The tattooed prosecutor: From dropout to the courtroom

Cameron Talley’s dad was a Baptist preacher and his brother was a public defender.

He is a cancer survivor who sometimes smokes two packs of Marlboro Lights a day. He dropped out of high school because of attention deficit disorder, yet returned to college in his 20s and graduated from UC San Diego magna cum laude. He once was a promising amateur boxer who became a horse racing stable hand and occasionally slept in tack rooms when he had no other place to sleep.

He has been through two bankruptcies and two divorces. And he has more tattoos than most circus performers.

So he is not the first guy you would think would become a successful prosecutor who is very good at what he does: sending bad guys to prison.

Related: Cameron Talley on justice, tattoos, kids

Related: Talley’s record: 23 convictions

But for the past seven years, Talley, a tall, thin man with a shaved head and pronounced ears, has been a member of the Orange County District Attorney’s homicide prosecution team. It’s where the best trial lawyers are found, where the pressure to win convictions is the most intense and where the stakes are the highest for those accused.

Talley, 52, tried 24 murder cases during his tenure on the homicide panel, winning 23 guilty verdicts for either first- or second-degree murder and one for manslaughter. One killer – Jason Russell Richardson, who shot to death the manager of the Home Depot in Tustin – was sent to death row.

Now, during an era when most trial prosecutors cling to the homicide team until they are promoted to management, Talley has asked for and received a transfer – to the major fraud unit. His new assignment begins this month. He will be replaced on the homicide team by veteran prosecutor Jim Mendelson, a former Marine Corps fighter pilot.

“It’s time to move on, amigo,” his common greeting to those he knows. “Life is a cornucopia, and there is so much to do,” Talley said. “I want to suck the marrow out of the bones of life, as Thoreau said. This one is done; it’s checked off. It’s time for the next chapter.”

So ends the homicide trial career of one of the most colorful prosecutors in Orange County, a lawyer who by his own admission shoots from the hip, is a little bit disorganized and is technologically challenged.

‘COLUMBO’ CHARMER

While other top prosecutors long ago went to PowerPoint presentations for opening statements and closing arguments, Talley is known for using poster boards with crime scene photos that he ceremoniously pulls out of stacks on the floor and hoists onto easels. Some colleagues say this is part of his Columbo-like charm that the jurors so love.

Former prosecutor Dave Brent, who was Talley’s supervisor for years, called him “one of the most intellectually brilliant yet still down-to-earth people” he’s ever known.

“Cameron has the gift of connecting with a jury on a very basic level,” Brent said. “Many of his cases were quite difficult, yet Cameron would win these cases by sheer force of will.”

Talley also gets high marks for his sympathetic treatment of all people in the justice system, especially the victims, said fellow homicide prosecutor Larry Yellin. “He cares deeply about his cases, and he cares deeply about his victims,” Yellin said.

AJ Egan, widow of Tom Egan, the manager of the Home Depot who was murdered by Jason Richardson in 2007, agrees.

“Cameron encouraged me and supported me through this difficult time of my life,” she said. “He fought hard and succeeded.”

Defense attorney George Peters, who battled Talley during two death penalty trials in the Home Depot case, said Talley is extremely effective in trial because of his unusual upbringing and nontraditional lifestyle as a young adult.

As the son of a Baptist preacher, Talley has an amazing ability to communicate with jurors, Peters said, “especially bringing an eloquent sense of righteousness to his side.”

“He has traveled the world and did a lot of different and unusual things before coming into the law,” Peters added. “That gives him an eclectic and sympathetic view of human nature.”

Veteran defense attorney Gary Pohlson, who opposed Talley in 2011 in the trial of a gang member who shot a girl in the back during a gang killing in a Cypress bar, said Talley “can relate to people of all economic levels and backgrounds because of his life experiences as a youth.”

“He’s also as competitive as any prosecutor I’ve ever seen,” Pohlson said.

GREAT HAIR

Cameron Talley was born in 1959, the second youngest of seven children born to Charles O. Talley and his wife, who raised their clan in urban San Diego. He remembers his early life as chaotic through high school, where a good day was one when he didn’t get beat up.

Talley, who now has a Kojak-style shaved head, said a highlight of his school days came when he won the title of “prettiest hair” in junior high for his flowing blond locks.

He said he had attention deficit disorder in high school and dropped out at 17 to take on a life of jobs waiting tables and washing dishes. Bored, Talley gravitated to the 5th Street Gym, where he began his brief boxing career, perhaps to compensate for being bullied in high school.

“My first dream was to be the welterweight boxing champion of the world,” Talley remembered. That dream ended when a younger, leaner, hungrier fighter pounded him without mercy. Still, he finished his amateur boxing stint with a 9-3 record and lifelong pride in knowing that he was never knocked out. He also remembers when the legendary Archie Moore saw him working out on the big bag and commented, “That white boy hits hard!”

Talley then took his quixotic life to the horse racing tracks, where he began by “walking the hots” – taking racehorses by the reins for a cool-down walk after a training run. For about three years, Talley worked, partied and slept mostly at the tracks, sharing tack rooms with young immigrants from Mexico.

He credits his brother Brooks Talley, a future deputy public defender in Orange County, with turning his life around by continually encouraging him to return to school, first to Grossmont Community College, then to UC San Diego and finally to UC Berkeley School of Law. Talley said he paid for his education on his own and, at age 52, still carries some student debt.

Talley first worked as a civil lawyer with Kirkland & Ellis before signing on in 1993 as a deputy district attorney in Orange County. His successes in the courtroom led to a series of promotions until he landed on the homicide team in 2003.

Along the way, Talley married twice and divorced twice, filed for bankruptcy twice and adopted two children. He took up the guitar and occasionally strummed in a blues band. Talley writes his own poetry and frequently quotes Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Greek tragedies and Teddy Roosevelt – in everyday conversations and courtroom arguments.

Talley is fluent in Spanish and teaches in the social ecology department at UC Irvine, where he is wildly popular with his students and was voted professor of the year in 2007. He also became a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union.

When Talley was in his 40s, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and had one testicle surgically removed. But he is now cancer free, something he said he ponders while smoking Marlboro Lights on the third-floor landing of the Central Justice Center.

MORE TATS COMING

But even with all that going on, it is his tattoos that draw the most attention and notoriety.

They flow from his arms to his chest and stomach like a multi-themed mural. He got his first ink when he was 22 and added to the collection over the years. He said he got most of the artwork in his late 40s when he was already a trial prosecutor specializing in sending multi-tattooed gang members to prison.

For the most part, his tattoos are covered in trial by long-sleeved shirts and suit coats, but he does not shy way from pointing out his tats to jurors.

The works of art include a phoenix rising from the ashes, a butterfly, horseshoes shaped in a figure eight and numerous biblical references, such as his favorite verse in the Bible – John 11:35 – “Jesus wept.”

His tats, he says, have similar themes: redemption, rebirth and overcoming struggles.

“Tattoos can be just a wonderful reflection of one’s values and personality,” Talley said. “And just as a form of art, they stand alone.”

And yes, he plans on getting more. He said he is going to finish the sleeve on his left arm, then “get my entire back done, perhaps with a George Stubbs painting of the famous racehorse Whistlejacket.”

Talley is proud of his unconventional and sometimes irreverent life and says that despite some major disappointments – such as divorces and bankruptcies – he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“What I can’t live with is sitting there sucking my life’s last breath and saying I didn’t live life to the fullest,” he said. “I have tried to be direct and honest, especially in the courtroom.”

He is also proud of his trial record. “Some people deserve to be punished and severely so,” he said.

But Talley insists he is most proud as a prosecutor of the times when he used discretion to show mercy where it was deserved and offer appropriately lenient sentences, or in some cases dismissals, if the evidence wasn’t there.

“The law and the system grant you a lot of power as a prosecutor,” Talley said. “You never, ever want to be shaving … 20 or 30 years after a case, and while looking at yourself in the mirror and think, ‘Hey, was that guy I convicted innocent? Or if he was guilty, did he really deserve a life sentence?’

“Prison is a terrible place, and to put someone there for a lifetime is essentially to take their life,” Talley added. “You better make damn well sure that someday when the ceremony of your career is over, and you’re just some old guy looking in the mirror, that the answer to that last question is an emphatic ‘yes.'”

 

Rodney King discusses memoir at L.A. Times Festival of Books

It has been 20 years, and Rodney King finds himself in what must be an awkward position: He is an elder statesman of victimhood. Instead of asking questions — “Can we all just get along?”— he is now being asked to answer them.

Can we all just get along? What about Trayvon Martin? How does it feel to be a symbol?

King, 47, tried to answer those questions Saturday at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, appearing as the co-author of a new memoir, “The Riot Within: My Journey From Rebellion to Redemption.” What emerges from both the book and his appearance is a man who has spent two decades coping, not always very well, with the blows that police inflicted on the night of March 3, 1991, and with the notoriety that came, a year later, with being the fuse that sparked the riots that shattered Los Angeles.

What also stands out is a Christian ethos that manifests itself in King’s insistence on forgiveness toward those who hurt him.

“That’s how I was raised, to be in a forgiving state of mind,” he said during an interview with Times columnist and KPCC-FM (89.3) radio host Patt Morrison. “Because I’ve been forgiven many times, and I’m only human, so who am I not to forgive someone? … I wouldn’t be able to grow as a person inside if I was too angry and unforgiving.”

King was drunk and unarmed when he was pulled over for speeding by Los Angeles Police Department officers, who responded to his erratic behavior by kicking him and striking him dozens of times with their batons. The incident was captured on video by a civilian bystander, and the tape became an instant international sensation.

Four of the officers were tried for excessive force. Their acquittal on April 29, 1992, touched off one of the worst urban riots in U.S. history.

With the 20th anniversary just over a week away, several hundred people packed an auditorium at USC to hear King at the book festival. Patience was required: He arrived 40 minutes late for the hourlong appearance, saying he was stuck in traffic.

In the interim, Morrison conducted a sort of town hall meeting, asking members of the audience to reflect on their experiences in the riots and to consider whether the city, and country, have changed for the better in the ensuing two decades.

Opinions were mixed. Some said there had been progress in race relations, and several said the LAPD had changed dramatically for the better. Others were less sanguine.

“I believe things have not changed,” said 61-year-old Nila Ussery, who said that in 1992 she was living at 64th Street and Normandie Avenue, nine blocks from the flash point of the riots at Florence and Normandie. She has since moved to Palmdale but said that in inner city neighborhoods today, “it’s even worse.”

Others cited the case of Martin, the Florida teen who was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer, as evidence that American society has not transcended its legacy of racism. One woman, Barbara Bergen, said racism “is still rampant” but fading as young people adopt healthier attitudes.

King expressed optimism that society was changing but offered a mixed message about the Martin case. “Unfortunately, it’s a rough road. It’s tough being a young black man,” he said. “As far as racist profiling just because you’re black, we’ve got to move past that.” And yet he added: “It’s in our blood, in the world’s blood, because we’re all sinners.”

King said he was newly engaged to be married and insisted that he was at peace. His book reflects that any equanimity was hard won; he recounts years of alcoholism and rage, but says he has gotten over both.

He was asked what he thinks now when he sees the videotape of his beating. “I’m so glad I made it through,” he said. “Now I laugh, I smile, when I see it.”

He recounted a recent conversation with a police officer, who told him: “Rodney, after we’re all dead and gone, your name is still going to be out there.” King reflected on that. “That was a deep thought,” he said. After a moment, he chuckled. “Six feet deep,” he said.