Defense Motion for Dismissal of Judge in Denny Case Denied : Courts: His romantic relationship with onetime secretary of former district attorney is insufficient reason to disqualify the jurist, ruling says.

A Superior Court judge’s romantic relationship with former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner’s onetime executive secretary is an insufficient reason to disqualify him from hearing the Reginald O. Denny beating trial, an Orange County judge ruled Wednesday.

In denying a defense motion to disqualify Judge John W. Ouderkirk, Orange County Superior Court Judge Theodore E. Millard noted that Reiner is no longer the secretary’s boss, nor is she the executive assistant to Reiner’s successor, Gil Garcetti.

“This relationship is simply not a disqualifying factor,” wrote Millard, who was assigned to hear the motion by California Chief Justice Malcolm Lucas, who chairs the State Judicial Council. Lucas was asked to resolve the issue after defense attorneys and prosecutors could not agree on a Los Angeles judge.

Defense attorneys said they would appeal Millard’s decision.

“I’m not surprised,” said attorney James R. Gillen, who represents defendant Antoine Miller. “Upon reviewing the decision, I don’t think it’s well-founded.”

A spokesman for Garcetti said prosecutors, who felt all along that the motion to disqualify was frivolous, are delighted by the ruling. “We feel it’s entirely appropriate, and now we’re looking forward to proceeding to trial,” said the spokesman, Mike Botula.

Millard ruled that there is no evidence that Reiner’s former executive assistant, Sherry Perkins, was involved in the case of the three defendants accused in assaults on Denny and 13 other people at Florence and Normandie avenues on April 29, 1992, as rioting broke out in Los Angeles.

Ouderkirk’s relationship with Perkins was a moot issue, Millard wrote, quoting a transcript of one defense attorney’s remarks to support that conclusion.

During a hearing in Ouderkirk’s chambers last December, attorney J. Patrick Maginnis, who also represents Miller, told the judge he did not see “how an executive secretary is going to dictate to you what you are going to do in your court. Now, I mean this might well be a motion issue for some people. To me, it’s a throwaway issue, quite honestly, and I don’t see it as a conflict.”

Ouderkirk first disclosed his relationship with Perkins to attorneys in the case last October, and the couple announced their engagement in November. Defense attorneys filed papers April 27 to disqualify the judge based on that relationship, among other grounds.

They argued that they had no idea in October that Reiner would be called as a witness in a hearing into allegations that the district attorney’s office files more severe charges against black defendants than it does against whites arrested under similar circumstances.

Millard, however, ruled that “the overwhelming weight of the evidence supports the conclusion” that all of the defense attorneys were aware in October that Reiner could be a witness on the discriminatory prosecution motion.

In their effort to have Ouderkirk removed, defense attorneys also argued that the judge had improperly solicited a response to a defense motion from lawyers representing Denny in a lawsuit.

Attorney EdO. Faal, who represents defendant Damian Monroe Williams, said Ouderkirk notified attorney Johnnie L. Cochran of a defense request to medically examine Denny when there was no opposition to the motion from prosecutors.

“Mr. Faal should have served Mr. Denny or his attorney with his motion for a medical examination of Mr. Denny,” Millard wrote. “A victim does not lose their privacy rights merely because they become a victim. How could a court grant a request or a medical examination of (the) victim without any notice to the victim?”

By faxing a copy of Faal’s motion to Cochran’s office, Millard ruled, Ouderkirk “was merely attempting to avoid delays.”

Millard also denied a defense challenge to Ouderkirk on the grounds that the motion is untimely. “They were simply not filed at the earliest (practical) opportunity as required,” he said.

The trial for Miller and Williams, both 20, and Henry Keith Watson, 28, is scheduled to begin in mid-July. The three defendants face multiple felony counts, including attempted murder, that could result in life sentences.