They said they would hire a lawyer active in civil-rights issues, C. Vernon Mason.

Vernon Mason recovered two fumbles and blocked a punt as Riverdale (7-1) ripped Cardinal Spellman (3-6), 31-7.

The lawyer for the black complainants, C. Vernon Mason, accused the Police Department of "bad faith" in the case.

The two lawyers, C. Vernon Mason and Alton H. Maddox Jr., are nothing if not controversial.

Time Difference Is Stressed The lawyer for two of the witnesses, C. Vernon Mason, challenged the Medical Examiner's report.

Mr. Koch also denounced another of his black critics, C. Vernon Mason, the lawyer.

Several black elected officials note that the Rev. Al Sharpton and the lawyer C. Vernon Mason have already called for a black challenger.

That contradicted statements made by one of the three defendants, C. Vernon Mason, who said the teen-ager had been "near death."

But then, after court, the same Vernon Mason would stand on the courthouse steps, he said, and angrily denounce his son as a racist rapist.

"You shut up," responded Stephen C. Jackson, a lawyer for one of the defendants, C. Vernon Mason.