Rodney King

"I'M READY TO GET THIS STARTED," PRONOUNCED Laurence M. Powell, one of four . Los Angeles police officers accused of violating the civil rights of black motorist Rodney G. King. "We have to get it started to get it over with." Seven months after they were indicted by a federal grand jury and two years after King's infamous videotaped beating, Powell and his co-defendants finally began their day in federal court.

Opening statements by attorneys and the order of three dozen prosecution witnesses expected to testify over the next six to eight weeks suggest that the jurors will still be deciding the case on virtually the same information and arguments made by both sides in the first trial. The prosecution will contend that the officers violated police policy by hitting King in the head with batons and kicking him to make him comply with their commands. And the defense will continue to maintain that the officers' actions were "a managed and controlled use of force that followed L.A.P.D. policies, procedures and training." Despite new, enhanced versions of the videotape, the most eagerly awaited new source of evidence will be King himself, who did not testify in the state trial.