Prosecution Tries to Show Cover-Up of King’s Injuries : Courts: A watch commander testifies that Sgt. Stacey C. Koon said the motorist was on PCP and suffered only minor wounds. The defense will now begin its case.

Federal prosecutors concluded their civil rights case against four policemen Monday with testimony designed to show a police cover-up of the injuries Rodney G. King suffered during his arrest.

“Your honor, at this time the United States rests,” Justice Department lawyer Barry Kowalski said as the 35th government witness left the stand.

Lt. Patrick Conmay, watch commander of the Police Department’s Foothill Division at the time of the King beating, said Sgt. Stacey C. Koon never told him the motorist was clubbed with batons while on the ground.

“He did not specify a position,” Conmay said. “He said they repeatedly struck him.”

Conmay said Koon, who was in charge at the scene of the arrest, asserted from the outset that King was under the influence of PCP.

When asked about the extent of King’s injuries, Koon “indicated the injuries were of a minor nature,” Conmay said.

“He specifically described a split lip,” Conmay said.

Medical tests would later show that King suffered multiple facial fractures, bruises and a broken leg. There was never any medical evidence of PCP intoxication, but the defense maintains that perception was supported by King’s behavior when police stopped him after a high-speed automobile chase.

In his written report, Koon stated that “it was immediately obvious the subject was under the influence of PCP,” Conmay said.

On cross-examination Conmay was questioned further about the claim that King was struck repeatedly after he had fallen to the ground.

“There is no rule that says you can’t strike a person on the ground with a baton,” Conmay said.

Defense attorneys immediately indicated that they wanted dismissal of charges on grounds the government did not present sufficient evidence of civil rights violations.

Koon’s attorney, Ira Salzman, said in a motion that prosecutors failed to prove malicious or sadistic intent to violate King’s civil rights.

The government took 13 days to present its testimony over three weeks. Defense lawyers were expected to present a case of equivalent length.

Also testifying on the prosecution’s last day was a police traffic supervisor, Sgt. John Amott, who said that a written report by defendant Officer Laurence M. Powell did not match a videotape of the beating and omitted the names of civilian witnesses who might provide details.

Amott said the report also omitted the names of two passengers in King’s car and did not mention that King was kicked, stomped and clubbed repeatedly after a traffic chase.

The March 3, 1991, beating was videotaped by an amateur cameraman who offered it to a TV news program. Amott said that when he saw the tape he noticed it did not match Powell’s report submitted hours after the beating.

“I didn’t think what I saw on the tape was reflected in the report,” Amott said, noting he reported the conflict to detectives assigned to investigate the use of force.

Portions of the report read to jurors showed that Powell depicted King as a hostile, charging suspect who was exhibiting bizarre behavior associated with the drug PCP.

“The defendant was unable to answer questions about what happened and was hostile. His hostile demeanor continued for approximately an hour,” the report said of King’s arrival at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

But nurse Martha Esparza testified before Amott took the stand that she interviewed King when he arrived at the jail ward of the hospital and found him “calm and cooperative.” She said he told her he had been beaten.

Other medical witnesses also described King as calm and coherent.

“Did he do anything bizarre or unnatural?” asked Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven Clymer.

“No, he did not,” said the nurse.

Nevertheless, she said, Powell told her that King was probably under the influence of the drug PCP.

Amott said that neither Powell nor his partner, Officer Timothy E. Wind, asked for a blood or urine sample from King to detect any drugs or alcohol.

The symptoms of PCP intoxication have become central to the officers’ federal trial because the defendants claim they presumed King was on the drug and thus was dangerous.

Powell, Wind and Koon are on trial along with Officer Theodore J. Briseno. They were acquitted of most assault charges in a state trial last year that sparked three days of rioting in Los Angeles.