King Asked for Stiff Sentences

In a letter written to officials setting the sentencing for the two officers convicted of beating him, Rodney G. King had asked for stiff punishment to “send a message to other police officers that the savage beating of unarmed citizens . . . will no longer be tolerated,” according to a published report.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune, in a copyrighted story published Sunday, quoted the letter sent to a federal probation officer before the sentencing of Sgt. Stacey C. Koon and Officer Laurence M. Powell to 2 1/2 years in federal prison.

The letter, written on the letterhead of King’s attorney, Milton Grimes, reads in part: “By no choice of mine, the March 3, 1991, beating has resulted in my becoming a symbol, emblematic of the history of police brutality against poor and minority people in America.”