We've come a long way. Now local protesters are trying to do the same thing to a white cop by using race to bend the rules.

        The Black United Front is picketing to demand that Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen must resign and put former Cincinnati Police Officer Robert Jorg on trial again. I don't know if Mr. Allen is supposed to quit before or after he prosecutes the cop again. But my guess is he will do both about as soon as the Bengals win the Super Bowl with Gov. Bob Taft playing linebacker.

        “It ain't gonna happen,” the prosecutor says. “We will not be swayed by the loudest voices.”

No instant replay

        He's right.

        Black United Front supporters argue that “the community” needs a new trial to resolve the death of drug dealer Roger Owensby, who resisted arrest and was killed in a struggle with Officer Jorg.

        But most in Cincinnati do not want another circus trial unless there is new evidence. There is not.

        An outside coroner hired by the city to review the case only confirmed the testimony of the local coroner, that Mr. Owensby was probably suffocated by Officer Jorg's knee in his back while the cops were trying to cuff him.

        “It would be irresponsible not to review it,” Mr. Allen said of the report. “But as I understand it, there is no significant difference between what he said happened and what the coroner's testimony was during the trial.”

        To some people, the Jorg verdict looks as outrageous as the O.J. verdict looked to white America. But our system was designed to protect defendants from being put through trials until we get the “right” guilty verdict.

        The hung jury voted 10-2 for acquittal. The holdouts were the only two black jurors.

A weak case

        Officer Jorg could legally be tried again. But it's unethical for prosecutors to go to court with cases that have no chance of winning — like this one.

        The key witness against Officer Jorg was a drug customer of Mr. Owensby, who admitted she had smoked too much pot, and got key details wrong.

        A police witness lied on the stand, but even if his testimony changed, prosecutors say it would not change the verdict.

        Officer Jorg has already been acquitted of assault, and without that keystone, the case for involuntary manslaughter crumbles.

        The time and place of Mr. Owensby's death is disputed by some witnesses, who said he walked to a police cruiser.

        Police officers are allowed to use lethal force when they believe lives are in danger. Juries rarely convict cops for mistakes in the heat of a struggle.

        Officer Jorg told detectives that Mr. Owensby, 5-foot-7 and 185 pounds, was one of the strongest suspects he had ever wrestled with. Anyone who has been to a funeral for a cop killed with his own gun knows there is no such thing as an “unarmed suspect” who resists arrest.

        I understand the frustration. But without new evidence, a second trial is more like persecution than prosecution.

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