LAPD Hearings in King Case to Be Open : Police: Public will be admitted to disciplinary proceedings for officers charged in beating. Some coerced statements may be kept private because of Powell’s pending retrial.

Disciplinary hearings for the Los Angeles police officers involved in the Rodney G. King beating may be public, except for coerced statements that Officer Laurence M. Powell gave department investigators that might jeopardize his pending retrial, a judge ruled Friday.

The technical decision by Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg marks a compromise among prosecutors, a city attorney and Powell’s defense lawyer and is designed to prevent any of Powell’s statements--which were made under threat of being fired--from tainting his criminal case, attorneys said.

Powell, 29, still faces one count of excessive force under the color of authority for his role in the March 3, 1991, beating of King, a black motorist and convicted robber who had led police on a high-speed chase.

He and the other three officers who stood trial in the case--Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, Officer Theodore J. Briseno and probationary Officer Timothy E. Wind--were acquitted April 29 on 10 of 11 counts in the beating. But the jury of 10 whites, a Latina and an Asian-American deadlocked on the remaining count against Powell.

Powell’s new trial has been set for Oct. 19, and Weisberg ruled Friday that his disciplinary hearing cannot take place until it is finished. But the disciplinary hearings of Briseno, Koon and six other officers who witnessed the beating may proceed, Weisberg ruled in Van Nuys Superior Court.

During the disciplinary proceedings, known as Board of Rights hearings, the officers will face a variety of misconduct charges and possible punishment ranging from reprimands to being fired. The hearings, similar to a military court-martial, operate separately and under different rules from civil and criminal court proceedings in alleged police misconduct cases. They were ordered closed to the media and the public by Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins last year before the start of the first trial in Simi Valley.

Deputy City Atty. Arthur Walsh asked Weisberg to reverse the earlier ruling, saying that Board of Rights hearings are usually conducted in the open, that the accused officers prefer them that way and that the city does not want to be accused of doing business in secret.

“Obviously this is an issue of immense public concern and we don’t want to be accused of sweeping anything under the rug,” Walsh said.

But the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office wanted Powell’s coerced statements to remain confidential lest they taint prosecutors’ evidence and result in a mistrial.

The statements made by Powell during the Los Angeles Police Department’s internal investigation, which offer his earliest version of the King incident apart from police reports, cannot be introduced during his criminal trial because the U.S. Constitution protects defendants from coercion.

But the department’s rules compel officers under investigation to cooperate or face charges of insubordination and possible termination. Their statements can later be used against them during disciplinary hearings.

Powell, Koon and Briseno remain suspended without pay pending the outcome of their misconduct cases. Wind, who was still on probation during the King beating, was fired. Many of the officers who witnessed the incident have been removed from field duty until their internal cases are resolved.

The agreement reached in Weisberg’s chambers Friday morning still must be drafted and submitted to him in writing, but attorneys said that was a formality.

Deputy District Atty. Terry White said Friday it is possible that the other officers’ coerced statements could still be closed to the public because the federal government may still file charges in the case.

Ten bystander officers have appeared before a federal grand jury so far and have already been interviewed by teams of federal investigators, said Diane Marchant, an attorney representing many of those officers.

Meanwhile, Powell’s attorney, Michael Stone, said Friday that he plans to appeal Weisberg’s May 22 ruling that Powell be retried in Los Angeles.

Powell has started a fund-raising campaign to cover legal costs. His father estimated Friday that $300,000 will be needed.

Edwin M. Powell, a lieutenant in the Los Angeles County marshal’s office, would not disclose how much money has been raised but said donors include a 92-year-old woman who uses a wheelchair, a 9-year-old boy and “a couple of Russian immigrants who sent $10 along saying they were upset with what’s happening with the judicial system.”

The younger Powell has been spending most of his time answering mail, his father said. He sold his condominium to help cover his expenses, his father said.

But Powell has no plans to accept a plea bargain in the case, his attorney said, “because he’s innocent.”