Last Witnesses Testify in King’s Civil Case

The city rested its defense against Rodney King’s civil lawsuit Tuesday and rebuttal witnesses were called in an effort to to mend any damage done to King’s case during the city’s presentation.

U.S. District Judge John G. Davies said the trial’s first phase, addressing compensatory damages, will go to the jury after closing arguments today.

The last of the city’s 15 witnesses was George Brinton, an economist who said King would have earned no more than $500,000 for the rest of his life. Brinton estimated that King, 29, would have worked only to age 59 and probably would have had part-time employment because of slumps in the construction business.

Brinton’s testimony contradicted estimates from one of King’s witnesses that the former construction worker could have made more than $1 million if he had been uninjured and able to work to age 65.

King’s rebuttal witnesses included:

* Dr. Dilworth Thomas Rogers, a neurosurgeon who was recalled to dispute city claims that King’s brain function problems were caused by alcoholism. Rogers said damage was localized to the left side of King’s brain and “you would not expect it to be localized if it was caused by alcohol or a drug.�

* Gerald Magid, King’s probation officer, who said he interviewed the grocer who says King robbed and assaulted him in 1989. “The victim indicated to me he didn’t believe Mr. King wanted to harm him,� said Magid, who also said that Tai Suck Bai never said King hit him with a piece of metal, a claim Bai made during the current trial.

* Timmy Fowler, King’s parole agent, who portrayed him as a polite, model parolee until the beating. After the beating, Fowler said, King told him he had been “beaten like a dog� and had heard racial epithets from officers during the incident.

The second phase of the trial will address individual liability of police officers and other defendants for punitive damages.

The city admitted liability but rejected King’s demand for $9.6 million to settle the case. He refused an offer of $1.25 million.

Four officers were charged with King’s beating and acquitted of most charges in a state trial, sparking three days of rioting in 1992. Two of the officers--Laurence M. Powell and Stacey C. Koon--were convicted later of violating King’s civil rights and are serving 2 1/2-year prison sentences.