RACIAL REMARK BARRED AS EVIDENCE IN LA TRIAL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 26, 1993                   TAG: 9303260180
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Short
RACIAL REMARK BARRED AS EVIDENCE IN LA TRIAL
Prosecutors suffered a setback Thursday in the Rodney King civil-rights trial when the presiding judge refused to let the jury hear a racially charged statement written by the police officer who directed King's beating and arrest.
In the draft of a book, Sgt. Stacey Koon described a confrontation between King and a female California Highway Patrol officer as a "Mandingo sexual encounter." U.S. District Judge John G. Davies ruled it would be "inflammatory" and unfair to other defendants to admit the statement as evidence.
Under bruising cross-examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. Clymer, Koon conceded some discrepancies between his testimony at the current federal trial and testimony at a state trial last year. But he stuck to his basic contention that the arrest of King was a "managed and controlled use of force" that fully followed Los Angeles Police Department guidelines.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB