Leaks to Press May Delay Trial of Four Officers in Beating : King case: Release of information may make it impossible to select an unbiased jury, judge says.

Trial for four Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney G. King might be delayed, in part because of unauthorized leaks that are jeopardizing the case, a judge said Monday.

“If someone is leaking confidential information to the press, they are sabotaging the case,” Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins said in reference to an article in The Times concerning a Los Angeles Police Department Internal Affairs Division investigation into the King beating.

The unauthorized leaks of the King investigation might be intended to distribute so much information to the public that it becomes impossible to select an unbiased jury, Kamins said at a morning court hearing.

Kamins also noted that the prosecution has not turned over all of the evidence that it must disclose to the defense. Defense attorneys have insisted they cannot be ready for trial by May 13.

Kamins said he will rule May 6 on a defense motion to postpone trial.

Sgt. Stacey C. Koon and Officers Laurence M. Powell, Theodore Briseno and Timothy Wind pleaded not guilty to felony assault charges in the March 3 beating of King during a traffic stop. A witness captured the beating on videotape.

Kamins appointed Herbert M. Barish as a backup attorney for Powell despite the officer’s objections. Powell’s attorney, Michael Stone, is involved in another marathon police misconduct trial that could take at least two more months.

Kamins acknowledged the appointment could give Powell a basis for appeal if he is convicted. “I don’t take this lightly,” he said, although he described Barish as “very excellent, beyond good.”

But Powell, speaking in a soft voice, said he had a constitutional right to select his own counsel and that he wanted Stone.

“Since my counsel is with the Police Protective League, he is familiar with representing police officers,” Powell said.

At Los Angeles City Hall on Monday, Fremont Police Chief Robert Wasserman told a City Council committee that top-level officers must spread the word that racism within the ranks will not be tolerated.

Supervisors must object to “things like racist statements in locker rooms and briefing rooms,” Wasserman said. “They have to speak out and say that’s not right. They have to control that.”

But supervisors cannot be held entirely responsible for officer attitudes, he told the committee.

“The chief can go in and say this is what our culture needs to be. But if (officers) don’t agree with him, it isn’t going to happen,” Wasserman told the Human Resources and Labor Relations Committee.

The committee began looking into Police Department training and procedures after the King beating and the release of a police communications transcript that contained apparently racist remarks by officers describing an earlier incident.