Defense in King Case Calls 2nd Expert

A second expert witness and another officer who was a bystander at the scene of the Rodney G. King beating testified Wednesday that reasonable force was used on the Altadena motorist when he was arrested last year.

The testimony from retired Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Robert Michael and Officer Danny Shry came as attorney Darryl Mounger continued his weeklong defense of Sgt. Stacey Koon, the supervising officer at the scene of he beating.

Mounger has been attempting to prove that his client and the other three officers accused in the alleged assault never violated Police Department policy when King was clubbed and kicked repeatedly on a Lake View Terrace street March 3, 1991.

When the defense made it clear Wednesday that more expert witnesses would be called, prosecutors asked Judge Stanley M. Weisberg to disallow any more such testimony. They contended that the experts called by the defense have not been objective in their viewing of the amateur videotape of the beating incident.

“We’re seeing too much confusion and leading of the jury with these expert witnesses,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry White, the lead prosecutor.

But the judge denied White’s request and allowed the expert testimony to continue, noting that White himself plans to present expert witnesses later in the trial.

Mounger’s first expert witness, LAPD Sgt. Charles L. Duke Jr., was on the witness stand for more than two days, testifying that he believed each of the 56 baton blows to King seen on the videotape were within Police Department policy.

Duke was followed Wednesday by Michael, who retired as an LAPD captain two years ago and now works as a consultant on the issue of use of force by police.

Michael testified that he has viewed parts of the videotape as many as 300 times but reached a decision that use of force was justified after only the second viewing.

Like Duke, Michael testified that force was justified because King posed a threat to the officers by attempting to get up rather than obey orders to lie down.

Asked if it would be reasonable for an officer to keep King from rising, Michael said, “He would be authorized to and expected to.”

Shry, who at the scene handcuffed one of King’s two passengers, testified that he saw Officer Laurence M. Powell strike the motorist with his baton half a dozen times. “It appeared he was getting off the ground each time,” Shry said of King.