1 of 4 Held in Officer’s Death Denies Charges

One of four men charged with killing a police detective hours after he testified against one of them in a robbery trial has pleaded innocent to murder and conspiracy charges.

Duane Moody, 27, of Los Angeles, the first of the four defendants to formally enter pleas in the case, also denied on Friday special circumstance allegations that would bring him the death penalty if convicted.

Van Nuys Municipal Court Commissioner Patricia Schwartz denied a motion to set bail and ordered Moody to remain in custody until a preliminary hearing Nov. 20.

His three co-defendants, Daniel Jenkins, 30, Voltaire Williams, 22, and Rubin Moss, 24, also are in custody without bail pending their arraignment Nov. 15.

The four Los Angeles men are charged with murdering off-duty police Detective Thomas Williams, 42, hours after he testified against Jenkins in a robbery trial on Oct. 31.

Williams was gunned down from a passing car as he picked up his 6-year-old son from a Canoga Park day-care center. The child escaped injury.

Detectives believe Jenkins, the alleged mastermind of the murder plot and the actual triggerman, put out a $10,000 contract on Williams’ life before the detective’s testimony, but an initial murder attempt on Oct. 25 failed when a hired assassin backed out.

Convicted After Killing

Jenkins was convicted the day after the detective’s death of the armed robbery of a North Hollywood theater manager.

Police on Thursday found the car believed used in the slaying abandoned near the Hollywood Bowl.

Investigators are hoping to find several sets of fingerprints in the car and will use the Orange County sheriff’s sophisticated laser beam system to find and lift prints difficult to find by traditional methods.

The system was recently used in finding fingerprints in a car linked to the “Night Stalker,” a serial killer charged in 14 nighttime slayings and 54 attacks.