Courtroom Drama

A tour of jury duty leaves many Americans let down enough to sue Perry Mason for perjury. TV has not exactly prepared the U.S. citizen for the unheroic, humdrum grind of the mills of justice. But this week National Educational Television is making up for that lack by broadcasting a four-part study of the judicial process. The unprecedented series of 90-minute shows is entitled Trial: The City and County of Denver v. Lauren R. Watson.

Denver v. Watson was an actual case, filmed with all the participants' consent last March in Colorado (the only state besides Texas that allows cameras in the courtroom). It was "a classic of the ritual drama of American justice," says Producer Robert Fresco. The trial involved a Black Panther arrested for "resisting and interfering with a police officer." The testimony, as might be expected, was contradictory. The defense lawyer claimed that the white cop was really at fault for "harassing" a black by bellowing out "White Power!" and "We need to kill this black bastard!" The prosecution argued that the defendant had repeatedly referred to a policeman as a "f--ing pig," and had tried to elude arrest.

The jury, interviewed after the trial, was white, middle class and often confused. The judge, Zita Weinshienk, a bright but engagingly modest lady of 36, was seen in her chambers researching puzzling points in Black's Law Dictionary. The prosecutor was a stodgy, humorless sort who spoke in impenetrable legal jargon and once, while examining his witness on the term "pig," inquired: "Officer, were there any animals of the porcine specie there?" The defense attorney was a dynamic 28-year-old who may have seemed too cocky and slick to the Colorado jurors.

As the trial neared its conclusion, NET's microphones caught whispered tactical talks between lawyers and witnesses, hushed parleys at the bench between counsel and judge. During recesses the producer interviewed the key figures on their strategies and expectations. The building tension undoubtedly hooked first-night viewers into sticking with the series.

The defendant was finally acquitted, but in a chilling post-mortem he proclaimed his continuing belief that there is no justice for blacks in America. In the first place, Watson said, blacks are not usually represented by lawyers as capable as his was. Secondly, "the officers who brutalized me" should have been penalized. "I should have resisted arrest." He concluded: "I should have killed both of them."

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