Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 12, 1993 TAG: 9304120055
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
LA JURORS DENIED KEY TRANSCRIPT
Jurors reached no verdict Sunday on the officers accused of violating Rodney King's civil rights, but requested a transcript of testimony from one of the trial's most dramatic witnesses.Soon after they convened on Easter, the jurors asked for the testimony of California Highway Patrolwoman Melanie Singer, who wept on the stand when she recalled baton blows to King's head.
The request came in a note from the jury's foreman, identified only as a real estate salesman in his late 30s who said during jury selection that an earlier jury's acquittal of the defendants on most charges was "no surprise" to him.
By the end of Sunday's session, jurors had deliberated some 7 1/2 hours since receiving the case late Saturday afternoon.
Sgt. Stacey Koon, Officers Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno and former Officer Timothy Wind are charged with violating King's civil rights in a beating which the government says was excessive.
U.S. District Judge John G. Davies said he didn't have the transcript jurors wanted, adding, "Even if I had it, I would not have sent it in because that tends to emphasize testimony."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Clymer then suggested that the jurors be asked if they were concerned about a particular part of the testimony. But Davies said he was reluctant to ask the jurors anything more.
Davies told jurors at the outset of testimony to rely on their own memories and notes and said he would not provide them with transcripts.
Singer's testimony rocked the trial near the end of the defense case. She was called as a defense witness but gave perhaps the most powerful testimony for the prosecution.
Singer, the first person to approach King after chasing him for speeding, testified that King was not threatening, that he acted like a "wiseacre drunk" and that police had no justification for beating him.
At one point, she burst into tears as she described Powell smashing King in the head with a baton. A key defense contention is that King was never hit in the head but instead fractured his face in a fall.
The jury's note, the first since deliberations began, came just after 2 p.m., about two hours after Sunday's session began.
Although the jurors have been sequestered at a hotel since Feb. 25, they knew when they were chosen that world opinion was focused on the case.