Dead Celebrity Alert

Ester Soriano, a Filipino-American civil rights activist who was the jury foreperson in the civil damages trial of Rodney King, has died. She was 61.

Soriano died April 3 in a Los Angeles hospital from complications after surgery for liver cancer, said her sister, Emily Deitrich.

She served as jury foreperson in the civil case that King brought against the city. King, who was black, was beaten by several white officers in 1991, an incident caught on tape that would help spark a race riot the next year. …

The jury awarded King $3.8 million (€2.41 million) in compensatory damages but no punitive damages. …

“She was trying to be fair and listen to both sides like she always did,” said Deitrich. “But later she said she thought he should have gotten more money” and punitive damages. … Read full obituary

Filed under Civil Rights