THE CORNEL YOUNG JR. CASE Will the trial reinforce the status quo? BY IAN DONNIS

When Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. signed onto the Cornel Young Jr. wrongful-death lawsuit in 2000, some observers saw the flashy LA lawyer as the ultimate equalizer in learning the truth about the racially charged situation. As Clifford Montiero, president of the Providence chapter of the NAACP told the Phoenix at the time, "I don’t think anyone has taken organizations like the civil-rights organizations seriously. The NAACP has a massive boycott in South Carolina over the Confederate flag and they’re still negotiating after a 15-year fight. If Johnnie Cochran goes in there and sues them, guess what? It won’t be a 15-year fight."

The stock placed in Cochran’s participation makes it all the more incredible that he was nowhere to be seen for the trial — due both to a conflict with his plan for an extended Italian vacation, and US District Court Judge Mary Lisi’s unwillingness to postpone the start of the case. As it stands, Lisi’s decision to bounce New York lawyers Barry Scheck and Nick Brustin may be an overly stern yet justifiable choice, but the perception, as Montiero said last week on WPRI-TV’s Newsmakers, is that the minority community has been cut off at the knees once again. (And this was before Lisi rejected the request by Robert Mann, the remaining lawyer for Leisa Young, for a mistrial.)

It may well be, as some have said from the outset, that the death of Young, a black off-duty Providence police officer who was fatally shot by two white colleagues while interceding in a late-night dispute, was a tragic mistake. Then again, considering how the vast majority of undercover or off-duty cops who get killed in friendly fire episodes are black, it’s difficult to rule out race as a factor.

The stewardship of the Providence police by Dean Esserman, who seems more attuned to the concerns of citizens than his predecessors, offers some hope for the overlooked concerns of minorities. It’s entirely possible, though, that the lasting impression from the wrongful-death trial stemming from Young’s death will be one of business as usual.