THE RODNEY G. KING BEATING TRIAL: ANOTHER CHAPTER ENDS : Sequence of Events

Here are some key dates in the Rodney G. King beating trial:

* March 3, 1991: Los Angeles resident George Holliday videotapes police beating King after high-speed chase.

* March 15: The Los Angeles County Grand Jury indicts four police officers on felony charges. Sgt. Stacey C. Koon and Officers Laurence M. Powell, Theodore J. Briseno and Timothy E. Wind later plead not guilty.

* July 9: Christopher Commission releases report citing evidence of brutality and racism in the Los Angeles Police Department.

* Nov. 26: Superior Court judge orders trial held in Ventura County.

1992

* Feb. 5: Jury selection begins. Testimony starts nearly a month later.

* March 17: Prosecution rests without calling King to the stand.

* April 29: Jury acquits officers on all charges except one count of excessive force against Powell. Mistrial declared on that count. Los Angeles erupts in rioting that lasts three days.

* June 28: Police Chief Daryl F. Gates resigns, is replaced by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Willie L. Williams.

* Aug. 5: Four officers are indicted on federal civil rights charges.

1993

* Feb. 3: Jury selection begins in federal civil rights trial.

* March 9: King testifies.

* April 17: Koon and Powell are found guilty; Wind and Briseno are acquitted.

* Aug. 4: Powell and Koon are each sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison and ordered to surrender on Sept. 27.

* Dec. 27: King completes parole on robbery conviction and alcohol treatment program.

1994

* Feb. 2: Federal appeals court denies King’s request that U.S. District Judge John G. Davies be prevented from presiding over King’s civil case.

* Feb. 24: City offers to admit liability in King beating and pay “actual damages” for injuries. Judge rules trial must proceed in King’s civil damages lawsuit to determine officers’ liability.

* March 22: Jury selection begins in a civil trial to determine the amount of money the city should pay King in damages and, in a second phase, whether the officers are liable.

* March 28: King begins 2 1/2 days of testimony, telling the jury that he was stripped of his decency and still has physical and emotional scars from the beating.

* April 19: Jurors award King $3.8 million in compensatory damages.

* April 21: Second phase of trial begins.

* May 9: Judge dismisses Gates as a defendant, saying King’s lawyers failed to show that Gates was directly accountable for the beating.

* May 17: Jury begins deliberating.

* June 1: Jury awards no punitive damages to King. The panel finds that Koon and Powell acted with malice but says Wind, Briseno and two bystander officers did not violate King’s constitutional rights. In a countersuit by Briseno, the jury finds that King battered the officer, but says there was no malice and awards no damages.

Compiled by CECILIA RASMUSSEN / Los Angeles Times