Latasha Harlins Was Killed While Buying Juice. The Shooter Never Went to Prison

While outrage over the verdict in the Rodney King case—in which four police officers accused of beating him were found not guilty—is often cited as the flashpoint that triggered the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, it wasn’t the only inciting incident.

On March 16, 1991—barely two weeks after videotape of King’s beating made national news—15-year-old Latasha Harlins stopped into a Los Angeles convenience store to buy orange juice but wound up dead at the hands of the store’s Korean-American owner, Soon Ja Du.

“Latasha had the money for the orange juice in her hand as she got up to the counter,” Brenda Stevenson, Distinguished Professor and Nickoll Family Endowed Chair in UCLA’s history department, tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “It looks as if Mrs. Du has been watching her reflected in mirrors around the shop. She saw that Latasha had put the orange juice in her backpack, so she believed that she was trying to steal it, but she just put it in her backpack to carry it up to the counter. Mrs. Du accused her of stealing it before Latasha could give her the money.”

Harlins said she wasn’t stealing the juice, which cost $1.79, and the two got into a fight captured by the store’s surveillance cameras.

“Latasha got the better of Mrs. Du, who fell down behind the counter, and when she came back up, she had a gun in her hand,” Stevenson, author of The Contested Murder of Latasha Harlins: Justice, Gender and the Origins of the L.A. Riots, explains. “Latasha doesn't say anything else. She turns around and starts to walk out and Mrs. Du shoots her in the back of the head.”

Facing heightened attention following the King case, Stevenson says the police took great care in investigating the killing and interacting with the community.

“They didn't want to have another racially motivated incident that put the police in a bad light for the community, so they did a really good job in investigating,” Stevenson says. “[Du] was charged with first degree murder special circumstances, which was an overreach, but nonetheless, they brought a lot of heat to the case.”

Latasha's cousin Shinese Harlins, who co-founded the Latasha Harlins Foundation and serves as its COO, also sees the connection to King's case. "Both decisions deeply impacted the community and intensified long-standing frustrations and hurt," she tells A&E Crime + Investigation. "These events are forever connected in history, and their effects are still felt today.”

On October 11, 1991, the jury convicted Du of voluntary manslaughter.

“Not only did the jury find her guilty, but the person who interviewed her to figure out what the recommendation would be in terms of sentencing interviewed her twice, and the second time she brought an interpreter just to make sure that Mrs. Du understood what she was asking,” Stevenson says. “They recommended that she get the maximum sentence because she showed no remorse whatsoever.”

The judge, Joyce Karlin, disagreed and gave Du a suspended 10-year sentence (a sentence in which a criminal avoids jail time, but may be subject to sentencing in the future if certain conditions are not met). Du received 400 hours of community service, a $500 fine and five years of probation.

“I think the judge resonated with the immigrant story of the person working very hard and trying to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. An accidental shooting. The girl is killed. And she watches her whole family's dreams be ripped apart because of that,” Stevenson theorizes. “Nonetheless, this is not what the jury had decided, and it certainly was not what people who were watching and were part of the larger Black and Brown communities felt in Los Angeles.”

Before the police officers charged with beating King were found not guilty in April 1992, tension was building between the African American and the Korean American communities in Los Angeles. “Latasha was not the first person who had been killed in a shop,” Stevenson says, noting ongoing conflict between African Americans who lived in communities where a large number of Korean American entrepreneurs had opened businesses.

The fact that a Korean American store owner killed a Black teenager and didn’t receive any jail time sparked a fire within the community, then the verdict in the King case fueled the flames.

“People really thought a failure of the criminal justice system took place with both cases,” Stevenson says. “In the case of Rodney King, it was not finding the policeman who beat him guilty—and you could see it on the videotape. Then with Latasha Harlins, the jury actually found the person who was accused guilty, but she was given no jail time for it. People were watching that case very carefully and closely, too.”

Although Harlins’ killing occurred long before the Black Lives Matter movement swept the nation, the grassroots activism that resulted from her death and Du’s light sentence set the stage for what would be the Say Her Name and Black Lives Matter movements.

“Now when people rattle off names of people who did not find justice after they had been murdered, Latasha Harlins is one of the first names you will hear,” Stevenson says. “She's also remembered as an example of how every segment of the criminal justice system can lead to injustice.”

Shinese describes her cousin as "caring, loving, and deeply protective of the people she loved."

"She was intelligent and had dreams of becoming a lawyer one day," she shares. "She loved her sister and brother with all her heart and would do anything for them. She was especially protective of her grandmother. If the house wasn’t clean by the time her grandmother got home from work, Latasha made sure it was done. She carried herself with responsibility beyond her years."

The late teen also enjoyed sports, having ran track and played basketball. "She was active, determined, and full of life," Shinese says. "More than anything, she was a young girl who was deeply loved by her family and friends. She made an impact while she was here, and that love and impact continue to live on today."

Her case demonstrates how criminal justice extends beyond what police do or don’t do. “You also have to look at the jury and look at the judges—that's when her case comes up. And it’s why her case is taught in law school as well,” Stevenson says.

Harlins’ legacy extends beyond law books. She inspired Tupac Shakur’s 1993 song “Keep Ya Head Up” and the Oscar-nominated documentary A Love Song for Latasha. On April 29, 2021, the 30th anniversary of the start of the Los Angeles uprising, her childhood playground was renamed in her honor, including a mural of her face.

Stevenson says Harlins’ death, Du’s trial and judge’s light sentence are noteworthy on another level as well, since women from three very different classes and cultures were involved: a Black teenager from a lower-income family, a middle-aged, middle-class immigrant entrepreneur and a white female judge from a prominent family.

“We don't spend enough time focusing on the plight of women, either as victims or as the people who are found to be perpetrators,” Stevenson says.

Ultimately, "Latasha impacted many young girls in the community even during her lifetime. She helped them comb their hair, stood up to bullies, and showed genuine love and protection," her cousin says. "She made a difference then, and she continues to make a difference now. Her life was taken too soon, but her legacy lives on. We will continue to say her name.”