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APowell Retrial, 1st Ld
By KURT PITZER
City News Service
VAN NUVS (CNS> - A judge today indicated he will dismiss the remaining
count against the only defendant not completely exonerated of state charges
in the Rodney King beating case, because the police officer faces similar
federal allegationsu
·'It is obvious ••• that the federal chat"'ge against ~1r. (Laut"'ence)
Powell and his co-defendants involves the same general subject matter as
the state case,'' said Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg. ''It really
should not matter whether (a) retrial occurs in federal court or state
court, as long as it occurs.''
Prosecutor Terry White agreed.
Outside the courtroom, White told reporters: ''If we wait until they
have a verdict (in the federal case), we're going to be in a situation
where, if it's a hung jury, we can retry Powell or (federal prosecutors)
can retry him again.''
And, he said: ''There needs to be a second trial in this matter. I don't
think justice was done in the first trial. So I'm not disappointed. It
doesn't matter to me, whether it's done in the state court or the federal
court.''
White led the prosecution effort in Simi Valley, which ended April 29
with acquittals of two Los Angeles police officers, and one former LAPD
officer. Powell was found innocent of all but one of the charges against
him.
Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on that assault under color of
authority count, and the prosecution later asked for and got permission to
retry Powell on that matter, which was the subject of discussion in court
today.
Weisberg, who pre~ided in the Simi Valley trial that sparked the worst
urban rioting this centu~y, schedulmd a Dec. 4 hearing on the Powell·
matter, assuming the federal trial would have been resolved by then.
It is set for trial on Sept. 29, but is expected to start some time
after that.
Attorney Michael Stone, who represents Powell, was pleased by today's
action. Stone said he was a bit surprised:
''I thought the position of the district attorney would be that 'we'll
keep this on hold until we finish the federal case,''' Stone said. ''It is
good for Mr. Powell not to have to worry about two different trials.''
It is ''the only decision that could have been made,'' Stone.~9 ''I
wanted the case to be -d-is-missed today-, b1..\t this is, Q'Y--91emuch be.ttet"'
than keeping it around languishing, while we go forward in federal court.''
Last week, White had indicated heW9Qthe state's retrial of Powell
to go ahead of the federal prosecution, but he deferred to Weisberg, who
saw it the other way.
''As the court stated, and we agreed, the retrial on basically the samu
situation and the same facts would occur in federal court'' anyway, White
said today.
In his petition to the court, Stone had written that ··a federal grand
jury has handed up an indictment alleging Powell ••• acted to deprive
Rodney Glen King of his civil rights.
''It now appears virtually certain that the federal prosecution is going
forward, and it should, in the interest of justice, be the final
prosecution of Powell.''
Stone had noted that Powell could face up to 10 years in prison if he is
convicted of the federal charges-- a term ''significantly greater than the
potential penalty in this matter.''
A federal grand jury indictment unsealed Aug. 5 charges Powell, Sgt.
Stacey Koon, Officer Ted Briseno and fired probationary officer Timothy
Wind-- the same four defendants in the state case-- with violating King's
civil rights in the March 3 7 1991, beating that followed a high-speed
chase.
An amateur cameraman in Lake View Terrace captured the incident on
videotape, which was later shown on television around the world.
City News Service 11:04 8/14/1992