Cries Of Relief

By GEORGE J. CHURCH

The wait seemed interminable, the suspense unbearable, the foreboding all too palpable. Los Angeles police reported to their stations at dawn Saturday, ready for a replay of last year's arson and looting; 600 National Guardsmen gathered in armories to back them up; at Camp Pendleton 70 miles away, U.S. Marines had been practicing urban assault tactics in case neither the cops nor the National Guard could quench the flames of racial riot.

And then a single word broke the tension. To seasoned legal observers gathered in a small federal courtroom in downtown L.A., it was obvious what at least some of the verdicts would be as soon as the jury filed in at 7:05 a.m. Several women jurors were dressed in their Sunday best; all the jurors looked self-satisfied and all kept their eyes away from the four defendants. An anxious city and nation listened as court clerk Jim Holmes began to read, in a practiced drone, the verdict the jurors had just handed Judge John Davies. How did the panel find on the charge that police sergeant Stacey Koon "did willfully permit" the savage beating of Rodney King by three other cops under his command, thus depriving King of his constitutional rights? Said Holmes: "Guilty."

Yells of joy -- and relief -- rang through the basement of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in south Los Angeles, which had become a kind of command post for efforts to head off a repeat of last year's bloody riots. Dozens of volunteers, gathered at the church to pray before walking neighborhood streets to try to keep order, joined hands nervously as the verdicts approached. At the word "guilty," all leaped to their feet, literally jumping for joy. Some hugged and kissed, others exchanged jubilant high-fives. Outside the courthouse, Rose Brown, a self-described community activist, cried, "Finally there is justice in this country!"

Within moments clerk Holmes pronounced "guilty" again. The jury had reached that verdict on a charge that Officer Laurence Powell "did willfully strike . . . kick and stomp Rodney Glen King," thereby violating King's constitutional right "not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, including the right to be . . . free from the intentional use of unreasonable force" by policemen. In the basement of the First A.M.E. Church, a voice cried, "Thank God!" On the videotape of the beating made by an onlooker and shown endlessly on TV, Powell had been seen to strike by far the most blows.

The jury found Officers Theodore Briseno and Timothy Wind not guilty of the same charge. "That's all right!" cried someone in the crowd at First A.M.E. On the tape, Briseno appeared to be trying to deflect some of the blows.

The verdict contrasted strongly with that of a state jury that had deadlocked on Powell and acquitted the other three of assault charges just under a year ago. Those actions aroused an angry belief that white policemen could treat blacks as brutally as they pleased and escape punishment -- an outrage that last week's verdicts have begun at least partly to allay.

"It is a good verdict," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, though he added that "it makes me weep that we must go through all this drama to get simple justice." Attorney General Janet Reno, addressing a news conference in Washington, said, "Justice has prevailed in Los Angeles." That comment was echoed by blacks and whites, officials and people on the street, in Los Angeles and other cities.

Not everyone agreed. Some blacks saw only partial justice. And some white policemen took the convictions of Koon and Powell as a slap in the face. But even among white cops, that feeling mingled with an almost giddy relief at the prospect of not having to cope with a riot on the scale of the one last year that left 53 people dead. "Everybody in Los Angeles is just happy that this cloud has finally been dispelled," said police captain Patrick Froehle. Many % blacks agreed. Said one woman, buying bacon at Sun's Market on Avalon Street, which was burned in last year's riot: "I'm glad I can shop this morning."

Fears of another riot rose through the week as the jury deliberated for 40 hours over seven days. That aroused worries about a hung jury, which could easily have had the effect of an acquittal. The jurors' names were kept secret, but one did agree to an interview on KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, his face hidden. Said he: "There were personality conflicts and heightened tension because of the pressure." Nonetheless, he said, the main reason that seven days were required was that "we thought it was only fair to go through all the evidence, including all the defense evidence. We went through ((police)) training bulletins, pictures, the videotape ((in)) slow motion, frame by frame. We went though all the medical testimony."

In the end, said the juror, the tape was "basically what convicted them." Some other evidence that legal experts -- including a defense attorney -- thought weighed heavily: Koon's assertion that he wanted to "break bones" to get King to submit, Powell's laughter when he called an ambulance and "war stories" told to fellow officers, and King's appearance on the stand. King did not appear to be the PCP-crazed monster that Koon had described.

Los Angeles is not necessarily safe yet. Koon and Powell come up for sentencing Aug. 4, and by then the trial of three blacks for the beating of truck driver Reginald Denny will be under way. The policemen could be imprisoned for 10 years. But if they get off with light sentences, and the Denny trial results in convictions and severe punishment for the blacks, the city -- and others -- could blow again. The Koon-Powell verdict has not so much purchased racial peace as averted -- for how long no one can tell -- more bloodshed, violence and animosity. But that is a great deal better than the alternative.

With reporting by Jordan Bonfante, Sally B. Donnelly, Sylvester Monroe and James Willwerth/Los Angeles