Grand Jury’s Beating Probe Nearing End : Police: Felony indictments considered unlikely against officers who witnessed clubbing of Rodney G. King, sources say.

The Los Angeles County Grand Jury is expected to wind up its work on the Rodney G. King beating by Tuesday, with felony indictments unlikely to be lodged against any of the 17 Los Angeles police officers who watched the incident but did not intervene, according to sources close to the case.

The 23-member panel is not expected to add charges to the indictment returned March 14 against a sergeant and three officers pictured on a videotape at King’s arrest, and prosecutors have been unable to find any state law under which to charge the bystanders, the sources added.

Before the grand jury makes a final determination, however, prosecutors want to examine a request by a local black lawyers’ group to see if the onlookers can be charged with the crime of “riot” or violating the state civil rights law, according to Mike Botula, a spokesman for Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner.

Botula noted that no police officer has ever been charged by local prosecutors for such violations.

“We want to be satisfied that we have turned every stone,” he said.

Reiner has not said publicly whether the officers who watched the beating could be charged with a crime by the grand jury.

Botula said prosecutors are also studying the audio portion of a videotape of the beating that was made by an amateur cameraman who lived near the scene in Lake View Terrace. The audio has been enhanced by the FBI to maximize voices and minimize the noise of a hovering helicopter to discern if any racial comments may have been made by officers during the beating.

Although all of the officers interviewed by the district attorney, including one black patrolman, have denied overhearing racial slurs, King’s lawyer said Friday his client now remembers hearing such epithets.

“I have not heard a single one of the bystanders say he heard any racial slurs at the incident,” said Diane Marchant, an attorney who represents 17 Los Angeles police officers who witnessed the beating. “This is not to say there were none. . . . There was a helicopter overhead and maybe you had to be in the right acoustical spot. But they were all asked, and unhesitatingly, the answer was ‘No.’ ”

Four Foothill Division officers have been indicted for assault and other charges in the March 3 beating of King. Sgt. Stacey C. Koon and Officers Laurence M. Powell, Timothy E. Wind and Theodore J. Briseno have pleaded not guilty and face trial May 13.

The possibility that the grand jury will not indict any other officers drew sharp criticism Friday from two local civil rights leaders.

“They went after the easy targets,” said Joseph Duff, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

“But they’re just going through the motions with respect to the other people (who stood by, only watching),” Duff continued. “I haven’t seen evidence that they used the techniques they could have to make a breakthrough against the others, such as granting immunity to some or working on inconsistencies in their accounts.”

Leo Terrell, an NAACP board member, was equally critical. “Those who acted by omission are just as guilty as the four officers,” he said.

During the second phase of its investigation, which began early last month and encompassed five sessions, the county grand jury heard testimony from only a handful of witnesses, including four rookie officers who were at the beating scene.

Although their testimony is still secret, transcripts obtained by The Times of their interviews with prosecutors show that they were confused and frightened by what they saw, assumed that King was dangerous and possibly high on alcohol or drugs, and that the sergeant failed to control the incident.

Marchant said the district attorney’s office interviewed 13 of her clients, subpoenaed eight, but ultimately took testimony under oath from only four.

“The 17 I represent are all working and available,” she said. “Why they stopped at four they didn’t tell me, but given the possibility that the transcript will be published, maybe they felt it would be too helpful to the defense for the four” officers charged earlier.

She also suggested that the current grand jury may want to leave the matter for consideration by next year’s grand jury, which convenes July 1.