Stacey Koon

Infobox police officer
name = Stacey C. Koon


caption =
born =
died =
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placeofbirth = - Los Angeles, CA, USA
placeofdeath =
nickname =
department = Los Angeles Police Department
service = United States
serviceyears = 1978 - 1992
rank = Sworn in as an Officer - 1978
- Sergeant 1
awards =
relations =
laterwork = Convicted in connection to the Rodney King beating

Stacey C. Koon was a Sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department. On March 3, 1991, after a high speed chase, he and four other officers - Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseño and Rolando Solano - attempted to arrest Rodney King. The officers state that King resisted arrestFact|date=May 2008 and Officers Powell and Wind and Briseño beat him. The incident was videotaped by nearby resident, George Holliday, who sold it to local TV station KTLA. The station aired parts of the video and CNN aired it the next day. The police officers were tried in a state court in Simi Valley in 1992 and acquitted. In 1993, the four officers later were tried in a federal court in Los Angeles, and Koon and Powell were convicted of violating King's civil rights and sentenced to 30 months in prison.

The initial sentencing of officers Powell and Koon was appealed to the United States Supreme Court on the issue of whether the Federal District Court properly applied departures from the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, in "Koon v. United States", 518 U.S. 81 (1996). Ultimately, the Court affirmed the lower court and allowed the officers' sentences to be significantly reduced due to four factors: King's own provocation, the officers' susceptibility to abuse in prison, their successive prosecutions in state and federal courts, and the unlikelihood of them repeating the same crime, as any felonyconviction rendered both of them ineligible for law enforcement employment.

Koon served his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, and the Federal Work Camp in Sheridan, Oregon. He was released on October 15, 1995. An armed assailant attempted to kill Koon in the halfway house in November 1995, but Koon was away for Thanksgiving.

Before his release, Koon unsuccessfully attempted suicide. He became ineligible as a convicted felon to serve on any police force and is now a part-time paralegal assistant and a "house husband." He currently resides in Castaic, California, where he is selling copies of his book, "Presumed Guilty: The Tragedy of the Rodney King Affair".

Presumed Guilty

In his book, Koon claims that:

* A chokehold would have been the most efffective way to subdue King, but the LAPD did not allow it to be used.

* He and the other three officers were "swarming" King, a tactic regularly used by the Los Angeles Police Department ("Department") to intimidate a suspect into submission without seriously injuring him. They would have used a chokehold if permitted.
* King's injuries were minor. His fractured cheekbone healed within a week, and his "broken leg" was a hairline fracture which initially went unnoticed. Koon writes, " [it] was remarkable that Rodney King hadn't been hurt worse than he was. Our use of force was unusually powerful."

* The videotape did not show King's initial provocation.

* King appeared to be on PCP. Although Koon tased him twice, it seemed to have no effect, and he repeatedly appeared to threaten the officers. (It was never clearly established whether King was on PCP.)

* Koon and the other officers were "presumed guilty" by police chief Daryl Gates, who played politics instead of supporting the case of the officers. Such indecisive position by the chief led directly to the riots. Gates lost the support of subordinate police officers and left the Department soon after.

While Koon was in prison, petitions were sent to buyers of the book, seeking funds for Koon's legal defense. About $1 million was raised.

References

* [http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/la_riot/article/0,28804,1614117_1614084_1614512,00.html TIME Magazine profile]
* [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/Kingkeyfigures.html#Sergeant Famous American Trials profile]