Tape Is Not the Full Story, Jurors Are Told : King case: Attorney for defendant Powell tells panel to look at the incident from the officers’ viewpoint.

Seeking to blunt the prosecution’s closing arguments, a defense attorney for one of the four officers on trial in the Rodney G. King beating told jurors Tuesday that it cannot be determined from a videotape what really was going on at the scene of the Lake View Terrace incident.

Michael Stone, attorney for Officer Laurence M. Powell, contended that King, rather than the officers on trial, was in control of the situation on March 3, 1991.

Stone stressed in his closing arguments that force was used only to get King to lie still on the ground so he could be arrested. It is Powell, his client, who is accused of delivering the most of more than 50 blows to King.

While Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry White urged jurors Monday to convict the defendants based on the 81-second amateur videotape, Stone argued that jurors should try to see the events from the officers’ point of view.

Everything that was happening on the street during the incident cannot be seen on the videotape, Stone argued, noting that the camera was 175 feet from the scene and that the video image is two-dimensional.

“What we’re seeing is not what the people involved in the fracas are seeing,” Stone said. “When you make a decision on whether these officers are guilty or not guilty, you’re not going to be able to look through the eye of the camera. You’re going to have to stand in their shoes.”

Powell could not run and hide in his patrol car when King refused to obey orders to lie face-down on the ground, Stone said.

“What do we as members of our community expect of our police?” Stone asked. “What do we want them to do? The answer is simple. We want them to do their duty. And duty required Officer Powell to act, and not to run away. And he was faithful to that charge.”

Police officers are not paid to win “second-place ribbons” when fighting with aggressive suspects, Stone said. They are normal human beings, he said, who are fearful of “rolling around in the dirt with the likes of Rodney King.”

If society demands that officers unnecessarily risk their safety, then “the thin blue line that separates the law-abiding from the not-law-abiding disintegrates,” he said.

“These are not Robocops,” he said of the police. “They hurt, and . . . they bleed and they die, just like everybody else.”

On Monday, White told the jury that the officers went beyond reasonable force when they continued to strike and kick King. Powell and Sgt. Stacey C. Koon later attempted to cover up their alleged misconduct by filing false police reports, the lead prosecutor said.

Stone, whose arguments took up most of the day, challenged the jury to conclude that Powell was either a “courageous” officer or a “brutal thug in a police uniform.”

“It’s one or the other,” he said. “There is no middle ground. Either he acted like a responsible police officer, or he acted like a uniformed hoodlum.”

Powell merely followed the orders of his sergeant by applying “controlled” baton strikes to King’s legs when the suspect refused to submit to arrest, Stone argued. He said the evidence that Powell hit King on the head is dubious, since King’s facial injuries were not in the places where prosecution witnesses said he was hit.

“I want you to handle this baton in the jury room,” Stone told the jurors as he dropped the heavy metal weapon on the floor. “I want you to pick it up, and I want you to feel it. And I want you to wonder whether Mr. King would even be alive today” if he had suffered a baton strike to the head.

The lawyer denied that Powell laughed or taunted King after the beating, as some prosecution witnesses contended.

Stone said Powell and his three colleagues have been under extreme pressure since the beating, noting that officials from President Bush to Police Chief Daryl F. Gates have condemned the officers’ actions.

“This has turned these men’s intestines into butter,” Stone said. And yet, he added, “everything everyone of these officers did out there that night was done in good faith and for a good reason.”

Paul DePasquale, attorney for rookie Officer Timothy E. Wind, began his closing statement late Tuesday afternoon.

DePasquale said that the scenes captured on the videotape are disturbing, but that they also are indicative of the high-risk nature of police work.

“It is violent and it is brutal,” DePasquale said. “Sometimes police work is brutal. That’s just a fact of life.”

Wind was following orders in striking King, he argued.

“No one can deny that Mr. Wind is responsible for his actions,” DePasquale said. “But on the other hand, you really must bear in mind that Tim Wind had a position in a chain of command in this incident.”

He noted that Wind graduated from the Police Academy in November, 1990, although he had previous law enforcement experience in Kansas. “This incident unfolded about 90 days after Tim Wind hit the streets,” the attorney said.

DePasquale is scheduled to continue his closing statement when the trial resumes this morning. He will be followed by attorneys for Koon and Officer Theodore J. Briseno, and then the prosecution will be allowed a final opportunity to speak before the jury begins deliberations.

All four defendants, who have pleaded not guilty, are charged with using excessive force. In addition, Powell and Koon are charged with filing false police reports, and Koon faces a third charge of aiding and abetting the other officers in his role as a supervisor.

If convicted, Koon, 41, and Powell, 29, could be sentenced to a maximum of seven years and eight months in prison. Wind, 31, could receive seven years in prison, and Briseno, 39, faces up to four years.

While Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry White urged jurors Monday to convict the defendants based on the 81-second amateur videotape, Stone argued that jurors should try to see the events from the officers’ point of view.

Everything that was happening on the street during the incident cannot be seen on the videotape, Stone argued, noting that the camera was 175 feet from the scene and that the video image is two-dimensional.

“What we’re seeing is not what the people involved in the fracas are seeing,” Stone said. “When you make a decision on whether these officers are guilty or not guilty, you’re not going to be able to look through the eye of the camera. You’re going to have to stand in their shoes.”

Powell could not run and hide in his patrol car when King refused to obey orders to lie face-down on the ground, Stone said.

“What do we as members of our community expect of our police?” Stone asked. “What do we want them to do? The answer is simple. We want them to do their duty. And duty required Officer Powell to act, and not to run away. And he was faithful to that charge.”

Police officers are not paid to win “second-place ribbons” when fighting with aggressive suspects, Stone said. They are normal human beings, he said, who are fearful of “rolling around in the dirt with the likes of Rodney King.”

If society demands that officers unnecessarily risk their safety, then “the thin blue line that separates the law-abiding from the not-law-abiding disintegrates,” he said.

“These are not Robocops,” he said of the police. “They hurt, and . . . they bleed and they die, just like everybody else.”

On Monday, White told the jury that the officers went beyond reasonable force when they continued to strike and kick King. Powell and Sgt. Stacey C. Koon later attempted to cover up their alleged misconduct by filing false police reports, the lead prosecutor said.

Stone, whose arguments took up most of the day, challenged the jury to conclude that Powell was either a “courageous” officer or a “brutal thug in a police uniform.”

“It’s one or the other,” he said. “There is no middle ground. Either he acted like a responsible police officer, or he acted like a uniformed hoodlum.”

Powell merely followed the orders of his sergeant by applying “controlled” baton strikes to King’s legs when the suspect refused to submit to arrest, Stone argued. He said the evidence that Powell hit King on the head is dubious, since King’s facial injuries were not in the places where prosecution witnesses said he was hit.

“I want you to handle this baton in the jury room,” Stone told the jurors as he dropped the heavy metal weapon on the floor. “I want you to pick it up, and I want you to feel it. And I want you to wonder whether Mr. King would even be alive today” if he had suffered a baton strike to the head.

The lawyer denied that Powell laughed or taunted King after the beating, as some prosecution witnesses contended.

Stone said Powell and his three colleagues have been under extreme pressure since the beating, noting that officials from President Bush to Police Chief Daryl F. Gates have condemned the officers’ actions.

“This has turned these men’s intestines into butter,” Stone said. And yet, he added, “everything everyone of these officers did out there that night was done in good faith and for a good reason.”

Paul DePasquale, attorney for rookie Officer Timothy E. Wind, began his closing statement late Tuesday afternoon.

DePasquale said that the scenes captured on the videotape are disturbing, but that they also are indicative of the high-risk nature of police work.

“It is violent and it is brutal,” DePasquale said. “Sometimes police work is brutal. That’s just a fact of life.”

Wind was following orders in striking King, he argued.

“No one can deny that Mr. Wind is responsible for his actions,” DePasquale said. “But on the other hand, you really must bear in mind that Tim Wind had a position in a chain of command in this incident.”

He noted that Wind graduated from the Police Academy in November, 1990, although he had previous law enforcement experience in Kansas. “This incident unfolded about 90 days after Tim Wind hit the streets,” the attorney said.

DePasquale is scheduled to continue his closing statement when the trial resumes this morning. He will be followed by attorneys for Koon and Officer Theodore J. Briseno, and then the prosecution will be allowed a final opportunity to speak before the jury begins deliberations.

All four defendants, who have pleaded not guilty, are charged with using excessive force. In addition, Powell and Koon are charged with filing false police reports, and Koon faces a third charge of aiding and abetting the other officers in his role as a supervisor.

If convicted, Koon, 41, and Powell, 29, could be sentenced to a maximum of seven years and eight months in prison. Wind, 31, could receive seven years in prison, and Briseno, 39, faces up to four years.