Reginald Denny

After struggling for two weeks, a multiracial Los Angeles jury agreed that Damian Williams and Henry Watson did not attempt to murder Reginald Denny. Nor, concluded the jury, did they deliberately intend to commit mayhem (to maim), an ancient common-law crime that connotes dismemberment or disfigurement. Everyone who saw the videotaped beating of Denny understood that a terrible and possibly fatal act had been committed against him.

There is an ancient Jewish legend that when God created the human being, there was a celestial battle between Justice and Peace. The angels told God that among human beings, these qualities would not be able to live together. The jurors in the Reginald Denny beating case drew the same conclusion that God's angels did: In Los Angeles in the late 20th Century, justice and peace could not live in harmony. They chose peace. No one can argue that the verdict was just.

Many wonderful things have been made possible by videotape, but an ability to lead us to sound judgments seems not to be one of them. Between the baseball games of the World Series and the verdicts in the Reginald Denny beating trial, we're repeatedly reminded these days not to think of "going to the tape" as the way to answer a question. The problem is, the advertising and entertainment industries spend all their time trying to persuade us that seeing is believing.

The clear marching orders of the day are to put Rodney King and Reginald Denny behind us. You almost get the feeling we'll be cited for violating our civic duty if we don't. Some people are telling us outright, but mostly the orders are in the form of subliminal advertising.

As symbols of the riots, they are indelible. As people, they are barely known. Even some of their neighbors do not know who they are and what they have done. In the 1 1/2 years since four Angelenos, watching television in different locations, rushed to the intersection of Florence and Normandie avenues to rescue Reginald O. Denny, their extraordinary courage has been overshadowed by the powerful images of mob violence. Damian Monroe Williams is much more of a household name than Bobby Green.

The Reginald O. Denny beating case was sent to the jury Thursday, with a defense attorney saying the defendants are scapegoats for the Los Angeles riots and prosecutors portraying them as violent criminals who committed unconscionable acts. Superior Court Judge John W. Ouderkirk excused the panel for the day at 3:45 p.m. and ordered them back to court this morning.

Damian Monroe Williams clearly intended to kill trucker Reginald O. Denny, bashing in his skull with a brick thrown from only three feet away and celebrating with a jubilant little dance afterward, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Henry Keith Watson is just as guilty as Williams because he held Denny down to make him a better target for other attackers, Deputy Dist. Atty. Janet Moore said in her closing arguments. "We have seen that videotape," she said. "It is burned in our brains.

In support of Joseph Duff ("NAACP Official Stands by Controversial Remarks," Sept. 12), I offer one more legal comparison between the Rodney King and Reginald Denny beating cases. The officers in the King case had a legal cause (and duty) to make contact with King. He was speeding. He failed to respond to the red light and siren. The officers had cause to believe King might be more than "just a speeder," because of his failure to stop and his evasive action. The officers had cause to "prone him out," a standard felony stop procedure to assure no injury will occur to anyone at the scene.

On USA Today's opinion pages Aug. 25, Susan Estrich, a USC law professor, commented on the trial of Damian Williams and Henry Watson, who are accused of beating truck driver Reginald Denny at the start of last year's riots. Here are some excerpts. * . . . Criminal courtrooms are no place for policy disputes and pronouncements. Juries are supposed to assess the evidence and adjudicate individual guilt, not resolve social debates or pass judgment on society.