NAACP Head Criticizes Site of King Trial : Race relations: The local chapter president says a fair hearing in Ventura County is impossible. Officials call the comments inflammatory.

Calling the track record for blacks in Ventura County’s courts abysmal, the head of the local NAACP chapter has blasted the decision to move the trial in the Rodney G. King beating case from Los Angeles to Simi Valley.

John R. Hatcher III, president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People’s Ventura County chapter, said in a letter distributed to local newspapers that most blacks view the county as “the home breeding ground for the David Dukes, Tom Metzgers and skinheads of America.”

“It is a slap in the face to have the Rodney King case tried in Ventura County,” the letter said of the highly charged case in which four white officers are accused of brutally beating a black motorist March 3.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered the trial moved last week, saying the highly charged political atmosphere in Los Angeles would make a fair hearing there impossible.

Several law enforcement officials in the county questioned Hatcher’s figures and called his comments inflammatory.

“I think it’s outrageous, irresponsible and typical,” Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury said. “He makes outlandish allegations, has no support for them and, when challenged to provide support, he’s never heard from again. . . . He’s an irresponsible spokesman for a very fine organization.”

Hatcher said 80% of blacks who are tried in the county’s courts receive jail time. Moving the King trial to the mostly white, politically conservative county increases the chances that the four white officers accused of beating King will be found not guilty, he said.

“They would be better off going to Mississippi,” Hatcher said. “Rodney King is on trial, not those officers. King will lose and the officers will win.”

Hatcher also contended that a fair trial is impossible in the area because the county is only 2% black, and because Simi Valley in particular--a bedroom community for many Los Angeles police officers--has strong police support.

The NAACP’s local office has received several calls from county residents who question the move, said Hatcher, who has lived in Ventura County since 1964 and works as a civilian affirmative action officer in Port Hueneme.

“People said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding. This is the most racist place in the world, and they’re bringing the trial here?’ ”

Bradbury said that between 80% and 90% of all people charged with crimes in Ventura County are convicted, regardless of race.

Hatcher said he arrived at the figure of 80% from his own random survey of court cases in the county involving blacks.

Hernando Butts, a senior probation official, questioned Hatcher’s statement.

“I don’t think he has an understanding of the criminal justice system,” Butts said. “But just as people will listen to the David Dukes, Tom Metzgers and skinheads and believe what they say, there are some people who are going to read this (letter) and believe what was said.”

Duke, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, was defeated in his race for governor of Louisiana last month. Metzger, former grand dragon of the California Ku Klux Klan, was recently sentenced to six months in jail for a 1983 cross burning in the San Fernando Valley.

Superior Court Presiding Judge Edwin M. Osborne was not available for comment on Hatcher’s statement. But Judge Steven Z. Perren, who is scheduled to become presiding judge at the end of the year, said he was sorry to read the letter.

“I am both surprised and frankly disappointed at his comments,” Perren said.

Perren said Hatcher has raised similar concerns in the past, “and it has always been my impression that Mr. Hatcher was treated with decency and respect.

“I would invite him to bring to us any concerns he has in any specific cases that support his assertions,” Perren said. “I know of nothing that supports them.”

Times staff writer Gary Gorman contributed to this story.