Lying Eyes: The Truth Behind the Corruption and Brutality of the LAPD and the Beating of Rodney King

As Owens, a private investigator who worked for the Rodney King defense, observes here: ``Almost everyone associated with this case is now a former this or ex-that.'' The list includes L.A. police chief Daryl Gates and King's lawyer Steve Lerman--who has yet to compensate Owens. Milt Grimes, Lerman's replacement, has also been dilatory about paying Owens, resulting in a still unresolved suit and counter-suit. That element of griping, legitimate but ultimately tedious, pervades Owens's book, coauthored with Hollywood screenwriter Browning. Not surprisingly, there are no heroes: King is characterized as ``self-destructive'' and juvenile; the LAPD as callous; George Holliday, whose videotape of the 1991 beating thrust the case into the public eye, as intent on maximizing his video-licensing profits with myriad suits against TV stations that aired his tape without permission. Given the media coverage of the King case, one doubts that there are many readers who will learn anything new here, or even want to rake through these events again. Photos. (Mar.)