King Case Verdicts Expected Today; Police Go on Alert : Trial: Jurors, after deliberating seven days, could make announcement this morning. Bradley urges calm, warns potential lawbreakers they ‘will not get away with it.’

After seven days of deliberating, jurors in the Rodney G. King civil rights trial appear to have reached verdicts and are expected to announce them this morning, according to law enforcement officials.

“They certainly are giving us plenty of notice to get prepared,” said Los Angeles Police Commission member Stanley K. Sheinbaum, whose agency was among those alerted late Friday about the impending announcement. “Doing it early in the morning will help.”

With reports circulating widely that verdicts were imminent, Mayor Tom Bradley briefly addressed the city Friday night and asked residents to “ignore all rumors and speculation.”

“In this hour, and over the next days, I know in my heart that the overwhelming majority of our residents will accept whatever happens with calmness and reason, regardless of their personal feelings,” Bradley said. “To them I say: Keep the peace because without it there can be no justice. To them I pledge: I will do everything in my power to maintain public order. . . . To those who may be itching for an excuse to harm our neighborhoods, I have this warning: You will not get away with it so don’t even try.”

It was unclear whether jurors had reached verdicts in the cases of each of the four Los Angeles Police Department officers, but legal analysts and sources close to the case said it appeared that the trial was likely to end today. If the jurors were deadlocked over any defendant, U.S. District Judge John G. Davies could order them to deliberate further or he could declare a mistrial for those defendants.

The federal trial of Stacey C. Koon, Laurence M. Powell, Timothy E. Wind and Theodore J. Briseno has unfolded in a city apprehensive about the possibility of a recurrence of last year’s civil unrest, and the prospect of verdicts jolted law enforcement agencies into high gear.

Just as the jury wrapped up for the day Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department went on tactical alert. A Sheriff’s Department spokesman said: “At the direction of the sheriff, the department is mobilizing as of (6 a.m.) tomorrow morning.” The spokesman said he could neither confirm nor deny that verdicts would be announced.

At the Los Angeles Police Department, a spokesman declined to discuss the reason for the increased police readiness. “We’re confirming that there is a citywide tactical alert, but we’re not making any comment about it,” Sgt. Bill Frio said.

Orange County law enforcement officials stressed Friday that they reviewed their existing civil disturbance plans and are ready to respond quickly to problems locally, or in Los Angeles, if necessary. Several departments went on alert this morning and boosted patrols.

“We’ll increase staffing and have full tactical alert,” said Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters.

Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Jay Mendez said: “We’re getting ready. We’re getting our resources and information together at this point. At this point, we have not yet deployed anything or anyone. We have manned our command center and will be relaying information to other police agencies as we get it. We’re making sure we have an open line to all the different agencies.”

In Tustin, Lt. Frank Semelsberger said: “We have contingency plans. When the verdict is announced we will have detectives coming in on duty.”

Semelsberger said that beginning at 6 a.m. “we will have some two-man units and more cars on streets. We pull from all over the department. Everybody has predesignated assignments. We’ve got to be prepared,” Semelsberger said.

Lawyers for the officers also declined to comment about whether they had been informed of possible verdicts. U.S. Atty. Terree A. Bowers said the government would have no comment. He would not speculate about whether the jury had reached verdicts against any or all of the defendants.

Other observers said it appeared that the jury was prepared to announce that it had concluded its work.

“We have plenty of objective signs that this could very well be a verdict,” said Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who attended the trial almost every day.

Levenson added that the break between sessions not only would give law enforcement time to respond, but also would allow jurors to pack their things and head directly home today, rather than returning to the hotel where they have been sequestered since Feb. 25.

News of the announcement from the jury spread quickly through Los Angeles, and authorities tried to reassure residents that there would be no repeat of last year’s unrest.

In the San Fernando Valley, 200 business owners and residents met with police at Reseda High School and were told that authorities were ready for whatever might happen after the verdicts are read. Capt. Val Paniccia of the West Valley Division said: “We know from last year what can happen, but that cannot happen again. This time we have a plan to stop it.”

Outside the auditorium, Sgt. Walt Kainz said police know that many in the audience had heard rumors that armed bands have targeted the Valley.

“Business owners know the rumors that gangs will target this area and that they have the ability to pull off terrorist-type attacks in the Valley,” Kainz said. “We know about the rumors too. We are ready.”

In some areas, however, residents took precautions anyway, heading to supermarkets to stock up on staples. The Alpha Beta on Pico and Beverly boulevards was busy Friday night as customers bought more than usual amounts of bottled water, canned goods and produce.

The Vons on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica reported extra purchases of canned goods and produce and said it expects a big day tomorrow. Pavilions at Melrose Avenue and Vine Street, the closest to the Larchmont area, reported being swamped by customers. The manager said he was so busy trying to keep the store under control that he could not talk.

Elsewhere, business appeared normal, and much of the city went about its normal Friday night activities. But many residents expressed weariness--and, in some cases, fear or resignation--as they learned that the civil rights trial might be about to end.

“I’m just tired, I’m just tired of it all,” said Boyle Vasquez as she walked out of a market at 59th Street and Vermont Avenue with a bag of groceries. “I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve just lost interest in this.”

At the Western Gun Shop on Western Avenue in Koreatown, employee Edward Kim said that news of possible verdicts brought relief and dread.

“I’m nervous and concerned and a little worried,” Kim added. “But we are not afraid.”

As the jury deliberated in seclusion Friday, Davies met with representatives of the media to lay out plans for announcing the much-awaited verdicts. The meeting occurred in the early afternoon, and Davies said he had no inkling at that time of how far along the jury deliberations were.

But he told reporters that he would allow the voice of his clerk reading the verdicts to be broadcast live, a dramatic break from federal practice in criminal proceedings.

“This is my slight gesture,” Davies told a pool of reporters. “I know you have a tough job.”

Davies added that “it seems petty” to deny the press and public the right to hear the verdicts announced live. A brief frenzy erupted this week when Davies summoned lawyers to his courtroom. He said that hubbub caused him to think about how the announcement of verdicts could best be handled.

In that instance, Davies summoned lawyers to his courtroom for an “announcement,” but did not specify the subject. When journalists learned that a court session had been convened, hundreds descended on the courthouse and some news stations sent up helicopters, thinking that verdicts might be forthcoming. The announcement turned out to be that one of the jurors had taken ill and needed to see a doctor.

The jurors in the case have been sequestered for seven weeks at an undisclosed Los Angeles hotel. Since last Saturday afternoon, they have been deliberating on the eighth floor of the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, in a jury room adjacent to Davies’ courtroom.

It has been days since they have given any hint as to how their deliberations were progressing. Already the deliberations have exceeded the time that a state jury took last year to return not guilty verdicts against the same four defendants.

While city residents braced for the verdicts, the defendants and their lawyers were locked in a grueling waiting game as well. Throughout the day Friday, they paced the halls of the courthouse.

“We arrive here every morning optimistic that today might be the day,” said Michael P. Stone, lawyer for Powell. “Then, as the day wears on, you get to a point where you think: It can’t happen today.”

Stone and Powell were forced to make a morning appearance in state court, where one charge against Powell remains unresolved from last year’s state trial. Although that charge will not be dismissed until the federal jury returns verdicts, Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg did release Powell’s $30,000 bond, which had been secured by his father’s house.

“At least we got the house back,” Stone said later.

With the deliberations dragging on, lawyers used some of the extra time Friday to solidify their plans for getting themselves and their clients to safety once the verdicts are announced.

Although they declined to comment on the plans in detail, lawyers for several of the officers said they had met with federal officials and had developed various scenarios for leaving the building if the defendants are acquitted and there appears to be a threat of violence.

One defense lawyer, Harland W. Braun, said months ago that a plan existed to fly the defendants off the top of the courthouse in a helicopter. Representatives of the U.S. Marshals Service will not confirm or deny that account.

Tensions are extremely high over the case, and several attorneys have received death threats--some of which have been shared with the judge. This week, Ira Salzman, the lawyer who represents Koon, called in an armed guard to escort his assistant from his legal office after receiving threats there.

Salzman said the threats were disconcerting, but he credited federal officials with handling the security issues competently.

“I believe that the officials are being totally responsible when it comes to handling these security arrangements,” Salzman said. “I’m confident in their plans.”

As the attorneys and their clients marked time inside the courthouse, a slew of demonstrators, civic leaders and public officials made their way to the bank of television cameras set up outside the building. Electronic media representatives from around the world are encamped in the Roybal Building plaza, biding their time while the jury deliberates.

That scene was disrupted Friday afternoon when a group of white supremacists traded harsh words with some members of the crowd.

Officials said the face-off began when the four men exited the federal building, where they had tried unsuccessfully to get a permit to demonstrate. Carrying a banner that said “Ku Klux Klan,” their arrival in the outdoor rotunda drew a crowd of reporters, who at the urging of federal officials quickly moved the impromptu news conference to the sidewalk on Aliso Street.

Within moments, the commotion attracted a small gathering of onlookers, some of whom shouted taunts. Fearing violence, the Federal Protective Service that patrols the courthouse grounds asked the LAPD to intervene.

Before any blows could be thrown, police officers in riot gear quickly escorted the four men away.

Flare-ups such as that have been rare in the courthouse plaza, and an array of protesters and public officials made their pitches peacefully Friday as the jury deliberated upstairs, shielded from the commotion outside. A Latino merchants’ group criticized officials for fueling public uneasiness with the high-profile security measures that are going in around the city.

“It has created a sense of impending doom,” said Jorge R. Mancillas, a representative of the group. “These publicity campaigns of police preparations have fueled the fears.”

Later, Los Angeles area Latino lawmakers came to the courthouse in a rare show of unity to urge restraint once the verdicts are announced.

The leaders also declared that they had received assurances that U.S. immigration authorities did not have definite plans to conduct post-verdict neighborhood sweeps and that Los Angeles police would abide by regulations limiting cooperation with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

“We don’t want to have the same kind of disturbances we had a year ago,” said county Supervisor Gloria Molina. “There is a tremendous amount of fear out there in our community.”

City Councilman Richard Alatorre said: “We are going to work together to make sure the government does the right thing.”

The elected leaders--mostly of Mexican ancestry, but generally U.S.-born or longtime residents--pointedly sought to reach out to the new Latino immigrant communities, which include many recent arrivals from Central American and Mexico. Last year’s civil unrest largely spared middle-class Mexican-American neighborhoods but cut a swath through poor immigrant enclaves, notably the Pico-Union/Westlake areas and South-Central Los Angeles.

Times staff writers Alan Abrahamson, Ashley Dunn, Greg Hernandez, John Johnson, Carla Lazzareschi, Patrick J. McDonnell, Victor Merina, Kenneth Reich, Rich Tosches and Amy Wallace contributed to this report.

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