<P> After the acquittals and the riots, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) sought indictments of the police officers for violations of King's civil rights . On May 7, federal prosecutors began presenting evidence to the federal grand jury in Los Angeles . On August 4, the grand jury returned indictments against the three officers for "willfully and intentionally using unreasonable force" and against Sergeant Koon for "willfully permitting and failing to take action to stop the unlawful assault" on King . Based on these indictments, a trial of the four officers in the United States District Court for the Central District of California began on February 25, 1993 . </P> <P> The federal trial focused more on the incident . On March 9 of the 1993 trial, King took the witness stand and described to the jury the events as he remembered them . The jury found Officer Laurence Powell and Sergeant Stacey Koon guilty, and they were subsequently sentenced to 30 months in prison . Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno were acquitted of all charges . </P> <P> During the three - hour sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge John Davies, accepted much of the defense version of the beating . He strongly criticized King, who he said provoked the officers' initial actions . Davies said that only the final six or so baton blows by Powell were unlawful . The first 55 seconds of the videotaped portion of the incident, during which the vast majority of the blows were delivered, was within the law because the officers were attempting to subdue a suspect who was resisting efforts to take him into custody . </P> <P> Davies found that King's provocative behavior began with his "remarkable consumption of alcoholic beverage" and continued through a high - speed chase, refusal to submit to police orders, and an aggressive charge toward Powell . Davies made several findings in support of the officers' version of events . He concluded that Officer Powell never intentionally struck King in the head, and "Powell's baton blow that broke King's leg was not illegal because King was still resisting and rolling around on the ground, and breaking bones in resistant suspects is permissible under police policy ." </P>

Who said can't we all get along