King Jury Asked to Have Officers Pay Out Millions

An attorney for Rodney G. King asked a jury in closing arguments Monday to bring an end to “an American saga” by ordering six present and former police officers to pay millions of dollars in punitive damages because of their roles in the King beating.

As King looked on in court, attorney John Burris asked the jury to award King between $3.8 million and $11 million. The minimum amount requested would equal the $3.8 million the same jury ordered the city to pay King during the first phase of the trial.

Burris also urged the jury not to be swayed by the defendants’ claims that they are destitute and have been punished enough.

“There is no redemption in these officers, no admission they did something wrong,” he said.

“Are we to reward them and have mercy on them?” Burris asked. “If they didn’t care about the judicial system, why should we care about them? It is not enough to say, ‘I’m losing my family and house and kids.’ ”

The nine-member panel appeared to be listening attentively as the attorneys made their closing arguments, which are scheduled to continue this morning before the case goes to the jury. Of the original 15 defendants, six remain: former Sgt. Stacey C. Koon; former Officers Laurence M. Powell, Timothy E. Wind, Theodore J. Briseno and current Officers Rolando Solano and Louis Turriaga.

Before the closing arguments began, Burris won a key point when U.S. District Judge John G. Davies reversed himself and ruled that King’s lawyers could argue that a racial epithet was used during the beating and may indicate malice by Koon.

After King’s side finished, attorneys for the officers made their final pitch to the jury, arguing that their clients had suffered enough and saying that King was ultimately responsible for the beating on March 3, 1991.

As sergeant, Koon was the officer in charge at the scene and Powell delivered most of the baton blows against King. Both are serving 30-month federal prison terms for violating King’s civil rights.

“Mr. King chose to drive in an unsafe fashion. He chose to evade police,” said attorney Ira Salzman, who represents Koon. “Mr. King made certain choices. He doesn’t have a right to have those choices go unchallenged.”

The defendants have been “victimized as much as Rodney King,” Salzman said, urging the jury not to get swept away by emotion in the case.

“We should talk about the law, not vengeance, not a need to rub a man’s nose in the dirt,” he said.

“How much is enough?” Salzman asked. “He has $20 to his name, a career gone, sitting in an 8-by-7-foot cell. . . . Punishment? In the name of the law, what more should be done? Nothing.”

Salzman placed the blame on city leaders who banned the chokehold in 1992, leaving officers with batons to handle unruly suspects.

Attorney Michael Stone, who represents Powell, said the defendants were merely doing their jobs as police officers.

“These officers get paid to win, not lose,” he said.