NEWS ANALYSIS : Racism Issue Now in Open at Beating Trial

From the start, the Rodney G. King beating was steeped in racial overtones--four white officers, on videotape, pummeling a seemingly defenseless black man with boots and batons as he writhed on the ground.

In its aftermath, there were angry protests and demands for the resignation of Chief Daryl F. Gates by the city’s black leaders, who contended that the incident was a graphic example of the kind of police racism that regularly occurs in their neighborhoods.

Even Mayor Tom Bradley, not known for his inflammatory rhetoric, added his voice to the chorus, saying he believed that the Police Department he once served in was rife with bigotry--a conclusion also reached by the Christopher Commission.

Yet the issue of race, so dominant in the debate over the beating, has been nearly nonexistent in the trial of the officers charged with beating King after a car chase.

By deciding not to call King to the stand, the prosecution closed one avenue by which race could have entered the case. In earlier interviews with district attorney investigators, King had said that the officers repeatedly used racial slurs as they beat him. Defense attorneys have sharply denied that the officers used any racial slurs.

Only once during the trial, now in its waning days, has talk of racism surfaced in any substantive way. And that happened only because of a gaffe by one of the defense attorneys.

Before the trial, the district attorney’s office and lawyers for the accused officers had agreed not to discuss a computer message sent earlier in the evening by Officer Laurence M. Powell after he had responded to a call involving a black family. He said it was “right out of ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ “--a message that the Christopher Commission and others cited as an example of apparent racism, and which fueled perceptions that the beating was racially motivated.

The agreement would have remained intact had Powell’s attorney, Michael P. Stone, not raised the issue of computer messages sent by his client the night of the beating--cracking the door for the prosecution to ask about his “Gorillas” transmission.

Because the parties in the trial have agreed not to discuss the case with reporters, it is impossible to determine why prosecutors have chosen to steer clear of possible racial motivations in the beating and what, if any, impact that decision may have on the outcome.

Legal experts speculate that one reason the prosecution may have felt it beneficial not to introduce the issue of race is because of where the trial is located--a largely white community that is home to many police officers. Indeed, none of the six men and six women of the jury are black, which probably would not have occurred if the case had remained in racially diverse Los Angeles County, where allegations of police brutality and racism have run high in the last year.

Identifying with images of racism “is hard if you live in Simi Valley,” said Charles Whitebread, a criminal law professor at USC.

Some legal experts and police critics who have been monitoring the trial say that, although discussion of possible racism has been minimal, the issue remains an undercurrent in the trial by virtue of the colors of the participants in the videotape, which has been shown repeatedly during the trial.

As City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who is black, said of the videotape: “It’s the classic image of police brutality, which is typically visited upon a person of color and not at all to be viewed as an exception when it is related to African-American males. It couldn’t have been more graphic to illustrate what racism is about.”

Late last month, members of the Hispanic Advisory Council to the Los Angeles Police Commission staged a news conference outside the courthouse in Simi Valley where they said that, although the issue of racial motivation has not been discussed, racism has been subtly injected into the trial.

Gloria Romero, head of the advisory council, said that during testimony by police officers, King has often been described as being “beast-like” and having other animal characteristics.

“I think definitely race is there,” she said. “And if we are too blind to see it and recognize it, then we are not seeing justice service.”

The pretrial agreement between the prosecution and defense to exclude Powell’s “Gorillas in the Mist” message from the trial was made because it was sent earlier in the evening and was agreed between the parties to be irrelevant to the beating. Besides, Powell’s attorney, Stone, said he would subpoena the black family to testify that Powell was respectful to them.

But the agreement was dashed Tuesday when Stone questioned Powell on the stand about a different computer message, one he had sent after the King beating in which the officer said he had not “beaten anybody that bad in a long time.”

Trying to get his client to acknowledge that officers often send each other “nonessential” computer messages, Stone asked him about other messages he may have sent. Powell balked on the stand. Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry White, the prosecutor, was alert.

Later that day, in a hearing away from the jury, White asked the judge to allow him to cross-examine Powell about the “Gorillas” message because Stone had brought up the subject of messages in direct examination.

“Racism,” he told the judge, “could be seen by this jury as the motivating factor in this trial for Mr. Powell.”

Stone, conceding that he had not meant to open up the questioning about other messages, asked the judge to deny White’s request. “It’s unfair,” he said. “It’s highly prejudicial” to Powell’s defense.

But the judge ruled in White’s favor. “It’s clear,” he said, “that this reference was to a racially involved incident and Mr. Powell’s reaction to it.”

When the jury was back in the courtroom, White wasted no time barraging the 29-year-old officer with questions about the message. He asked point blank if the comment was racist. No, insisted Powell.

But White did not give up, triggering one of the most memorable exchanges in the trial when he raised the “Gorillas” message a second time on Wednesday. He angrily asked Powell if there was a “jungle” on the streets of the police Foothill Division that night. Or if he had seen any animals out there that night? Maybe some gorillas? He then asked Powell why King was left face down on the side of the road after the beating, his feet and hands cuffed together.

Powell, clearly uncomfortable, maintained that King had been combative.

“At any time did it go through your mind that this was not a human being you were beating?” White asked Powell.

“No,” the officer replied.

“This man is a human being, isn’t he?” the prosecutor asked.

“Yes,” the officer responded.

“He is not an animal, is he?” the prosecutor continued.

“He was acting like one,” the officer retorted.

“He was acting like a gorilla?” White thundered.

And Powell, left with little choice, answered, “No, sir.”

Powell’s lawyer, Stone, sat quietly during the exchange, unable to come to his client’s aid. At a break in the trial, he turned to a group of reporters and, trying to muster a smile, quipped: “Lawyer bombed. Film at 11.”

Peter Arenella, a criminal law professor at the University of Los Angeles Law School, said the jurors cannot help but be influenced by the “Gorillas in the Mist” message and the prosecutor’s stinging questions about it.

“With the introduction of those racist remarks,” Arenella said, “I would speculate that it will be harder for the jurors to sympathize as much with the fear the officers might have felt at the time of the incident.”

Now, he said, “the jurors’ interpretation of the officers’ behavior might be tinged with the taint of racism.”