Sound Expert Testifies She Cannot Find Racial Slurs in King Videotape : Courts: Defense witness says some words are unintelligible. Noise from Taser may indicate that it was used longer than officers said it was.

A German sound expert hired by the city of Los Angeles to analyze the Rodney G. King videotape testified Friday that she never heard any racial epithets, although there were some words she could not make out.

Angelika Braun was called by the city and attorneys representing the officers involved in the beating to blunt accounts of the incident by King, who testified in his federal lawsuit against them that officers repeatedly used the word nigger as they hit and kicked him. King is black; the officers who beat him are white.

Asked about clicking sounds on the tape, Braun identified them as the possible sounds of a Taser gun used to subdue King and said the electronic weapon was probably used for a longer period than the officers said. The defense contends that most of King’s head injuries were caused by an unprotected fall after he was shot with a Taser gun.

Attorney Michael Stone, who represents one of the officers, asked Braun if she could identify any comments on the tape.

“I have identified, ‘Put your hands behind your back’ repeatedly; ‘Down’ repeatedly; ‘Has anybody got a damn Taser’ twice,” she said.

Stone asked her if she heard any racial epithets.

“No, I did not,” she replied.

Under cross-examination, King’s attorney John Burris asked Braun if she could hear a racial slur made by one of the officers before he ordered King to put his hands behind his back.

“There is something before that,” she said, “but I cannot make it out.”

Braun, who speaks fluent English, said that she studied in Alabama for a year when she was in high school and that she heard the word nigger at the time.

Earlier Friday, David Love, the only black officer at the scene of the beating, said he did not hear anyone there use the word nigger , adding that if he had, he would have reported it to his superiors.

“As an Afro-American it would have offended me,” he said.

Under questioning, Love conceded that he was not always close enough to hear everything that was said because of noise from a hovering police helicopter.

In other testimony Friday, neurologist Arthur Kowell took the stand for the city and testified that King suffered no brain damage from the beating. Another witness, neuropsychologist Tony Strickland, testified Thursday that he had determined through tests that King’s injuries were more psychological than physical.

The defense is expected to wrap up its case early next week.

The first phase of the trial is to determine the amount of compensatory damages to be paid by the city, which has acknowledged liability in the case. A second phase will address individual liability by police officers and other defendants for punitive damages.

King, who is seeking $9.6 million, has rejected an offer to settle the case for $1.25 million.

Four officers were tried for King’s beating and acquitted on all but one charge in a state trial, sparking three days of rioting and more than 50 deaths. Two defendants--Officer Laurence M. Powell and Sgt. Stacey C. Koon--were later convicted of violating King’s civil rights and are serving 30-month sentences in federal prison.