King, His Attorney Say Jurors’ Reaction May Be Basis for Appeal

Rodney G. King, making his first public comment Thursday since the verdicts in his civil rights trial, said he was not surprised that the jury awarded him no punitive damages, but King’s attorney 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.”

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

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

Thursday, King, 29, said he was not surprised by the jury’s refusal to financially punish the officers who beat him.

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 how to “hold on to the money.”

Grimes declined to identify the juror who approached him or to reveal details of the discussions. But the juror, Cynthia Kelly, a self-employed seamstress from South Pasadena, said she had contacted Grimes.

Grimes said he was concerned by statements made by Kelly, the jury’s lone African American, that justice had not been not done and that she had to “fight like hell” to get the verdicts favoring King.

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

Wednesday, after 11 days of deliberations, a nine-member federal jury found 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 had sought in punitive damages.

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

Both King and Grimes said they believed the racial makeup of the jury, which included six whites, one Latino, one Filipino American and one African American, seriously impacted the verdict.

If there had been 12 black jurors, Grimes asked, “Wouldn’t you be concerned about justice?”

King said he felt “blessed and happy” to have at least one African American on the civil rights jury.

As for his future, King said he is seeing a psychologist to deal with his continued anger over the beating and is back coaching a Pasadena Little League team.

King said he had conquered fears that caused his chest to tense up and his body to break out sweating and shaking, but he still has trouble viewing the videotape of his beating.

“Every time I look at it I can remember what they were saying,” he said.

“I’m fine not seeing it anymore. It’s a sick sight.”

King said he still feels like a “marked man” in Los Angeles: “Like someone’s always following me. Someone’s out to get me.”

He said he didn’t know if he could forgive the officers who beat him, but would stay as far away from them as possible.

Grimes refused to let King comment on the possibility of another trial, but said the jury “left us with an unresolved type of feeling.”

“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.”

He pointed to the jury foreman leaving in tears, the dissatisfaction of the only African American juror, and “11 days of people coming out shaking their heads and crying and saying they don’t know if they made the right decision.” He also said he planned to investigate reports that three jurors might have discussed the case during a weekend barbecue.

Grimes also challenged the dismissal of former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates as a defendant and said he is considering appealing it.

“Daryl Gates was one of the main players I thought we’d get,” King said.

Grimes said he could not say how much of the $3.8 million King will receive, after attorney fees and the expenses are subtracted, but “Mr. King will be left with a substantial part of the money.”