LOS ANGELES : Appeal Filed to Remove Judge in Denny Case
James R. Gillen, a lawyer for one of three men charged with attacking motorists during the opening hours of the rioting in Los Angeles, filed an appeal Tuesday seeking to have a white judge removed from the case.
Defense lawyers normally are allowed only one peremptory challenge to remove a judge, and they have used up their opportunity by removing another jurist. But Gillen has argued that the interests of his client, Antoine Eugene Miller, are so different from those of two other defendants in the case that he should be allowed a separate challenge.
Specifically, Gillen said in a declaration accompanying the appeal that Miller is prepared to testify that he did not beat truck driver Reginald O. Denny, but that defendants Damian Monroe (Football) Williams and Henry Keith (Kiki) Watson did. All three defendants are black, and the assignment of a judge to hear the case has stirred controversy during the past week.
A Superior Court judge rejected Gillen’s argument Monday, but he has asked the appellate court to review that decision.
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