LOS ANGELES : Protesters Urge Civil Rights Charges in Harlins Death

Nearly one year after a Korean-born grocer was sentenced to five years probation for the killing of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins, a small group of family members and friends demonstrated outside the Federal Building in Westwood on Friday. “We will never let people forget the death of this child, until justice is achieved,” said Gina Rae, leader of the Justice for Latasha Harlins Committee.

Harlins was killed by grocer Soon Ja Du in a dispute over a bottle of orange juice in a case that inflamed tensions between the city’s African-American and Korean-American communities. Superior Court Judge Joyce A. Karlin sentenced Du to probation after a manslaughter conviction. Committee members hope that the Justice Department will file federal charges against Du for violating Harlins’ civil rights, Rae said. An FBI spokesman said results of a preliminary investigation into the case were forwarded last month to Washington.