The Marines practiced storming a city and South Central Los Angeles was urged to "chill" as a federal jury in a barricaded courthouse continued to weigh the fate of the four policemen in the Rodney King beating case.
The jury returned Wednesday morning for a fifth day of deliberations.Sgt. Stacey Koon, officers Laurence Powell and Theodore Briseno and former officer Timothy Wind are accused of depriving King of his civil rights in the 1991 beating videotaped by an onlooker. They could get 10 years in prison.
The four white officers were acquitted April 29 on state assault charges in the black motorist's beating, touching off riots that killed 54 people.
This time, authorities put up 3-foot concrete barriers at the courthouse and fenced off a parking lot for a police staging area.
About 1,000 Marines at Camp Pendleton, 80 miles away, stormed a mock town in an assault exercise, and a base spokesman said a unit stood ready to go to Los Angeles if needed. About 600 National Guard members trained at area armories.
U.S. District Judge John Davies admonished media sketch artists for being "too accurate for comfort" in their portrayals of the anonymous jury.
"Any drawings of jurors or alternates must contain minimal detail and must not render them recognizable," the judge ordered.
Meanwhile, the message from politicians, police and celebrities was to "chill," or keep calm.
In Washington, Attorney General Janet Reno urged the public to accept whatever verdict is returned, saying federal prosecutors "have done their very best."
"Let's stop the rumors," Mayor Tom Bradley told about 100 members of Neighbor to Neighbor, a door-to-door campaign to defuse tensions.
In South Central Los Angeles, where the trouble started last year, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters handed out letters saying, "It's time to chill.
"If you take to the streets with a Molotov cocktail in your hand, a gun in your belt or a brick ready to throw, you give the police the legal right to kill you," the letters read.
A music video titled "Chill," featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Arsenio Hall, was introduced Monday on the school district's TV station.
King himself spent the day watching the Los Angeles Dodgers home opener. King, who was a hot-dog vendor at Dodger Stadium when he was beaten, sat behind home plate this time, a guest of Dodger stars Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis.
"He's a Dodger fan just like everybody else," Davis said.