Officer in King Beating Released to Halfway House

A former police officer convicted in the 1991 videotaped beating of Rodney G. King has been released to a halfway house after serving 24 months in prison, authorities said Monday.

Laurence M. Powell, who was sentenced to 30 months behind bars, left the federal prison in the Mojave Desert community of Boron last Tuesday. He will spend 2 1/2 months at the My Break Transitional Center in Orange County.

“It provides a smooth transition back into the community,” said federal Board of Prisons spokeswoman Pat Ellington, who oversees halfway houses in Southern California.

Once fully employed, prisoners are allowed weekend passes “to an already investigated and pre-approved residence,” Ellington said.

Former Sgt. Stacey C. Koon, also sentenced to 30 months in prison in the King beating, will be released Dec. 14, said Mary Sullivan, spokeswoman for the Sheridan Federal Correction Institution near Portland, Ore.

The Supreme Court agreed last week to hear appeals by both former officers. The justices let their convictions stand but decided to review a federal appeals court order that the trial judge must consider imposing sentences longer than the original 30-month terms. If longer sentences are imposed, Koon and Powell could wind up back in prison.

Koon, Powell and two other white officers were acquitted in state court on charges of assault and excessive use of force in the March, 1991, beating of King, a black motorist.

The verdicts touched off three days of rioting.

The four officers were then indicted on federal charges, and Koon and Powell were convicted in 1993 of violating King’s constitutional rights.

Powell was convicted of beating King; Koon of allowing the beating to occur. Both men went to prison in October, 1993.