King Calls Verdict No Surprise, but Lawyer Speaks of an Appeal

Rodney G. King, making his first public comments since the verdicts in his civil trial, said Thursday that he was not surprised that the jury awarded him no punitive damages, but King’s lawyer said the jurors themselves might provide grounds for appeal.

“After the first (verdict) in Simi Valley, nothing surprises me,” King said. “I’ve gotten the short end of the stick from the Simi Valley trial until now.”

But King said he had to concentrate on the millions that came out of the first verdict and “make something out of that.” He said he is attending classes to learn to “hold on to the money.”

King’s lead attorney, Milton Grimes, said Thursday that discussions with a juror troubled with the way the verdict came about could provide the basis for an appeal.

“I think there are areas that warrant an investigation,” Grimes said at a news conference outside his office. “It does bring out some information . . . that the verdict may be impeachable.”

King, looking slim and healthy in a white dress shirt, slacks and suspenders, said he would not have sued for punitive damages if the officers “had shown some sign of remorse. None of them came up to me and said they were sorry.”

Grimes declined at the news conference to identify the juror who contacted him. But a juror, Cynthia Kelly--a self-employed seamstress from South Pasadena--met with Grimes at his office later in the afternoon. Grimes said he was concerned by statements made by Kelly, the only African American on the jury, that justice had not been not done and that she had to “fight like hell” to get the earlier verdicts favoring King.

Grimes said he had also been contacted by a second juror, whom he also did not identify.

“I don’t think we can say this is the final chapter in the trilogy of Rodney King,” he said. “We’re still looking for justice.”

After 11 days of deliberations, a nine-member federal jury found Wednesday that former LAPD officers Laurence M. Powell and Stacey C. Koon had acted with malice in the 1991 beating of King. But the jury decided unanimously that the officers had been punished enough and declined to award King as much as $15 million he was seeking in punitive damages.

Earlier, the jury awarded King $3.8 million in compensatory damages, payable by the city of Los Angeles, for the police beating.

Grimes said he could not say how much of the $3.8 million King will receive once attorney fees and other expenses are subtracted, but “Mr. King will be left with a substantial part of the money.” Grimes refused to let King comment on the possibility of another trial but said the jury “left us with an unresolved type of feeling.”

The attorney said he plans to investigate reports that three jurors may have discussed the case during a weekend barbecue, and he added that he might appeal the dismissal of former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates as a defendant.