Sentencings Reopen L.A.’s Painful Wounds

In a city struggling to heal itself, the sentencing of two Los Angeles police officers Wednesday was like the painful reopening of a wound.

This was supposed to be the final chapter to more than two years of racial division and suspicion about the judicial system since the beating of Rodney G. King. But for many people--both those who saw the 2 1/2-year sentences as being too harsh and those who attacked them as too lenient--the sentencing of Officer Laurence M. Powell and Sgt. Stacey C. Koon revived the uneasy sense that Los Angeles is still a city divided.

“These guys have a badge and they’re allowed to beat a man and you give them 30 months. But if he was a black man he’d have gotten 25 to life,� said 24-year-old Tracie King as she walked in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South-Central where one of the first rocks was thrown during last year’s riots. “It’s all because of the color of your skin.�

As U.S. District Judge John G. Davies handed down the sentences, many people who had expected a routine resolution to the case found themselves confronting a new anxiety over what the future holds.

At the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, where more than 100 African-American leaders and community members had gathered for a candlelight vigil Wednesday morning, most expressed extreme disappointment with the judge’s decision.

“I’m disappointed, but it’s deeper than that--I’d almost say grief,� James M. Thomas said. “I just cannot believe that no matter what we do, no matter how we try to support the fabric of this country, that African-Americans are still discounted as a people.�

On the streets, things were peaceful but there was anger over the widely held belief that little has changed since King was beaten in March, 1991.

“You’ll never hear the end of this,� said Rose Brown, a 45-year-old Los Angeles homemaker who sat in the courtroom to hear the sentences read. “It was like the same sad void that I felt in Simi Valley. Your insides try to eat you up like they are devouring you.�

Milton Adams, 17, who was standing with friends at 67th Street and 8th Avenue in South-Central said: “They give people 27 to life for penny-ante stuff. Some of my homeboys are doing five years for attempted murder. That’s just not right.�

Many supporters of Koon and Powell also expressed disappointment at the sentences--in their case because of what they said was unfair punishment for officers simply doing their jobs.

At the LAPD’s station in the Foothill Division, where Koon and Powell were based, the lights in the watch office were turned off and all eyes turned to the television mounted on the wall as the sentences were read.

“It’s completely political,� a veteran Foothill officer, who at one time worked for Koon, said as he shook his head. “They say go out there and do your job. But look what happens. These are officers who did their job and look what happened to them.�

“Are we supposed to use a stopwatch now in deciding what is excessive force?� he asked, frustration evident in his voice.

Capt. Tim McBride, commander of the Foothill Division, said that Wednesday may have been the toughest day for police in the 2 1/2-year King saga.

“I think that we will have tears--if not in the eyes, then in the hearts of officers throughout the department. It has been a long and difficult saga.�

One officer at police headquarters had a more cynical response. “Did you hear they’re painting the police cars downstairs?� asked Detective Bill Helm. “They’re going to say, ‘To protect and to serve time.’ �

The sentences refocused attention on the case that has often been held up like a mirror to the King beating: the assault on white trucker Reginald O. Denny. Two young African-American defendants, part of a group that supporters have dubbed the LA4, are about to be tried in the attack that took place at Florence and Normandie avenues during the early hours of the 1992 riots.

On Wednesday, the sentencing of the officers served as a reminder that the two Denny defendants would soon wind their way through a judicial system that many believe is not color-blind.

The Rev. Cecil (Chip) Murray, pastor of the First A.M.E. Church, said it is inevitable that comparisons will be drawn between the Denny case and the one that ended Wednesday.

“We’ll see how the two stack up,� he said. “If there’s some type of balance, then OK. A level playing field, that’s what people ask.�

But Murray warned that if the defendants in the Denny case are treated more harshly, “then we’re going to have to do everything we can to find a positive way to do the positive thing because the anger will be intense.�

A range of public officials, including Mayor Richard Riordan, spoke out after the sentencing, urging calm and racial unity in the city as was done after the state trial of the two officers and their co-defendants.

But for many people, regardless of whether they saw the sentences as being fair, the appeals did little to assuage their uncomfortable feeling that the future remains uncertain.

“I’m just worried about what it’ll do to the city,� said Tawny Sanders, a Bel-Air housewife. “Because there are going to be a lot of people who think they (the officers) should have gotten more time. It just adds more tension to our city again.�

Throughout the city, some were satisfied with the latest chapter in the King saga.

Michele Butin, a producer for the television show “Star Search,� said she thought the officers had suffered enough.

“Actually, I think it’s fair because they lost their jobs too,� she said. “As bad as what they did was, you have to remember it was in the line of duty. If you keep penalizing police officers, how will you get more people to sign up for that job? I’m not condoning what they did.�

At the Corral saloon in Lake View Terrace, next door to the triangular lot where King was beaten, a debate over issues of justice raged.

Nursing their Budweisers and Bloody Marys, some said the 30-month sentence was fair and square. Others were outraged that the officers were not treated more leniently.

“I think the sentencing was good,� patron Andy Culp said. “You just don’t kick a man while he’s down. I don’t care if you are cops. These guys are trained in the art of subduing people. They’re trained to use those batons only in self-defense.

“I don’t care how high he was, they shouldn’t have used those clubs. That was wrong.�

Just down the bar, Larry Bain was hearing none of that.

“Rodney King got what was coming to him,� Bain said. “Even if he got a beating, he still broke the law.�

Most of all, Bain said, he is simply tired of hearing about the case and wishes it were all over.

“I’m just sick of it,� he said. “Hell, I can show you some of the pebbles King laid on top of when he got his beating. Sheesh, next thing you know, they’re going to build a damned monument out there.�

In the neighborhoods that suffered most during last year’s riots, there was no talk of monuments. The physical reminders of the conflict and division in the city are everywhere: in the burned-out storefronts and the bulldozed lots. Several of those who live their lives amid this wreckage were bitter.

“If (the officers) had been Latinos, like us, they would have been given the electric chair,� said Heraclio Vernal, 65, a landlord in Pico-Union, one of the neighborhoods still struggling to rebuild.

In Koreatown, Hang Lee, the owner of a furniture store that was stripped by looters last year, spent much of the day listening to news bulletins. After the riots, he said, insurance money enabled him to restock his Elegant Lifestyle store at Melrose and Western avenues with new couches, tables and lamps.

He said he was prepared for the worst. If any disturbances broke out, he had already made his plans: Board up the windows and doors--then flee.

“We’ve been ready since before the sentencing today,� he said.

At a small gathering Wednesday night to call for “healing, justice and peace,� members of the Faith United Methodist Church in South Los Angeles decried the sentences and called for nonviolent action. The Rev. M. Andrew Robinson-Gaither said Judge Davies’ “leniency indicates to us the system doesn’t care about people of color.�

And Paul Parker III, a relative of one of those facing trial in the Denny beating, told church members that Wednesday’s sentencing showed the riots “were justifiable. If there is no justice for blacks, there will be no peace,� Parker said.

Contributing to this article were Times staff writers Brian Ballou, Leslie Berger, Miguel Bustillo, Aileen Cho, Ashley Dunn, Virginia Ellis, Geraldine Espana, Paul Feldman, Andrea Ford, John M. Glionna, E.J. Gong, Larry Gordon, Carla Hall, K. Connie Kang, Chau Lam, Christina Lima, Patrick J. McDonnell, Jean Merl, Amy Wallace and Teresa Willis.