Testimony of Briseno Contradicted : King case: Two officers contend that he lied on the witness stand when he said he was upset about the beating of motorist. They say he told them there was no police misconduct.

Two Los Angeles police officers testified Tuesday that they were incensed when they saw Officer Theodore J. Briseno testify last week that he tried to stop the Rodney G. King beating, saying he had told them a different story a day after the incident.

Testifying that Briseno lied on the witness stand, the officers said Briseno had bragged about how he and the other officers “had to kick a little ass” in Lake View Terrace on March 3, 1991.

Both men said they watched Briseno’s testimony on television Friday and decided Saturday to volunteer their recollections of his comments after the beating. They said they contacted Koon’s attorney, Darryl Mounger, and then consulted with him and the attorneys representing the other three officers charged in the beating.

The testimony of Officers Dennis Watkins and Gerald Williams was dramatic in that they described how Briseno acted on the night of March 4, 1991, when the videotape of the beating first aired on television and police Internal Affairs Division investigators descended en masse on the department’s Foothill station, collecting reports, logs and other documents relating to King’s arrest.

Their testimony was in contrast to a third officer’s. Like Briseno’s partner, Rolando Solano, who had testified earlier in the trial, Officer Glenn King testified Tuesday that Briseno told him he tried to stop the others from hurting King.

Watkins’ and Williams’ comments sparked infighting between Briseno’s attorney, John Barnett, and Michael Stone, attorney for Officer Laurence M. Powell, and the prosecution’s response was to sit back and watch. Prosecutors asked no questions of either of the two witnesses.

If the jury believes Watkins and Williams, the government’s case against Briseno could be strengthened because it attacks his credibility at a time when he could have been appearing sympathetic.

In his testimony Friday, Briseno said he had stomped King once in an effort to stop the beating. He said he was so angry about what had happened that he later went to the Foothill station to report the incident. He did not report it, he said, because he saw a computer message from Sgt. Stacey C. Koon reporting the beating.

Briseno criticized Koon, the supervisor at the scene, for his handling of the incident, and Officers Powell and Timothy E. Wind for beating the 27-year-old Altadena motorist.

But Officer Watkins testified Tuesday that he told Briseno about the videotape less than an hour after it first aired, and Briseno responded: “Oh yeah, that arrest. We had to kick a little ass last night.”

Watkins said he told Briseno that internal affairs investigators were on the case, and that Briseno responded: “That’s OK. Let them. We didn’t do anything wrong. Let them investigate all they want.”

“It was just tough talk?” asked Stone.

“Yes,” replied Watkins.

“Like macho policemen?”

“Correct.”

“Like tough guys?”

“Yes.”

Then, asked to describe Briseno’s contradictory testimony on Friday, Watkins said: “I just think Officer Briseno was lying” on the witness stand.

Next up was Officer Williams, who wore a cowboy outfit and a ponytail and who was repeatedly referred to as “Psycho,” his nickname, by Barnett.

Williams recalled overhearing the conversation between Briseno and Watkins. But he added that he later separately told Briseno that it appeared from the videotape that the beating “looked bad.”

Williams said that Briseno responded: “We didn’t do anything wrong. . . . The asshole deserved it anyway.”

Asked to describe his feelings after watching Briseno testify on television, Williams said: “I was upset because he (Briseno) lied. He told me one thing and acted one way, and then he stood up here before this jury and said something completely different and acted completely different.”

But under sharp questioning from Briseno’s attorney, both Williams and Watkins said they never told internal affairs investigators about Briseno’s comments. They also acknowledged that there is a code of silence among officers in the department.

“The code of silence,” said Watkins, “is a code among police officers to maintain a certain amount of secrecy in their activities.”

In contrast, Officer King testified that Briseno said he was afraid that if Rodney King got up off the ground, the other officers “would have beaten him to death.”

The court recessed after Stone asked King, who is no relation to Rodney King, about the fact that Briseno was under investigation by internal affairs. That comment drew the ire of Barnett, who accused Stone of “serious misconduct.”

The jury is not allowed to know that Briseno, or any of the other defendants, are also facing internal disciplinary charges brought by the Internal Affairs Division.

All four defendants have pleaded not guilty. The trial resumes this morning, with Officer King expected to continue his testimony.