Opening Remarks Preview Denny Trial : Courts: Prosecutor says a beating victim will identify Williams. Defense says IDs are shaky.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys presented opening arguments Thursday in the trial of two defendants accused of attempting to murder trucker Reginald O. Denny, and each side revealed elements of their cases they had not previously disclosed.

Prosecutors unveiled a new witness--a gas station attendant who was beaten at Florence and Normandie avenues--who they claim will be able to provide a critical identification of Damian Monroe Williams, one of the defendants.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence C. Morrison said the witness, Gabriel Quintana, will also testify about a conversation with Williams that clearly showed his criminal intent.

A defense attorney sprang a surprise of his own, revealing for the first time that he will argue that injuries to Denny’s skull--allegedly caused by a brick Williams threw while Denny was on the ground--were caused by a piece of concrete that hit the trucker while he was in his cab.

Attorney Edi M. O. Faal said Williams could not be guilty of attempted murder because the concrete was thrown by an unidentified attacker before Denny was pulled from his cab.

“Whoever caused the injuries did so when Mr. Denny was still in the truck,” Faal said. “Will there be evidence that Mr. Williams was the one who threw the rock or concrete through the passenger side of the truck? No. The evidence will not show that.”

Williams, 20, and Henry Keith Watson, 28, are charged with multiple felonies, including attempted murder, in the beating of Denny and the assaults on five other motorists and two firefighters as they passed through the intersection of Florence and Normandie avenues as rioting broke out last year.

The civil unrest, which claimed more than 50 lives, erupted after a state jury acquitted four Los Angeles police officers on all but one charge stemming from the beating of Rodney G. King.

Many Los Angeles residents see the Denny beating case as the symbolic twin of the King beating. For some, the two beating trials have become symbols of racism and injustice, despite significant differences in the two cases.

As prospective jurors were questioned by lawyers before being allowed to sit on this panel, Superior Court Judge John W. Ouderkirk cautioned them that the Denny beating trial cannot be seen as an opportunity to “even the score” for the 30-month sentences given to Officer Laurence M. Powell and Sgt. Stacey C. Koon after their convictions on federal charges of violating King’s civil rights.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence C. Morrison’s opening statement in the Denny trial was accompanied by graphic color slides of scenes at the intersection.

At least one juror winced and another’s mouth dropped open as a close-up of Denny, covered in blood, was projected for more than a minute as Morrison spoke. Other shots of beaten and bloodied victims had a similar impact.

“Certain days stand out in history,” Morrison said as he began his statement. “We the citizens of Los Angeles will never forget April 29, 1992. We saw vicious and horrible crimes broadcast into our living rooms.

“Over the next few weeks, we will relive and experience some of those crimes through the testimony of victims of those crimes.”

Morrison methodically walked the jury through the crimes alleged against each victim.

“While many of us have come to hear this case being referred to as the Reginald Denny case, it is not just about Reginald Denny,” Morrison said. “This is a case of those eight citizens who, like Mr. Denny, were victimized at that intersection.”

Morrison presented close-up photos of men he identified as Williams and Watson, and pointed out what he called their distinctive clothing. He then showed several other scenes of attacks, pointing to suspects he identified as the defendants by their clothing or physical characteristics.

He said an eyewitness, Gabriel Quintana, who worked at a service station at the intersection, will identify Williams as one of the men who beat and robbed him. Moreover, Morrison said, Quintana had conversations with Williams that clearly will indicate the defendant’s criminal intent.

Although Morrison said Quintana was beaten and robbed, and that Williams smashed his face into a glass window, prosecutors have filed no charges against Williams in that alleged attack.

As Quintana was attacked, Morrison said, Denny somehow--”nobody knows how”--got back into his truck and began to drive away.

Four African-American residents came to his aid, and Morrison repeatedly praised them and other good Samaritans who went to Florence and Normandie to rescue victims of attacks.

“Like millions of other Americans, these residents of South-Central saw the attacks and decided to do something about it,” he said.

“The events of April 29, 1992, at Florence and Normandie brought out the best in human beings and also the worst in human beings,” Morrison said.

“Some of the victims you will be hearing from over the next few weeks are here only because of the selfless heroism of the good and decent citizens of this community of South-Central who risked their lives,” he said.

“At the conclusion of this case, all the people of this community seek is justice,” he said. “Justice requires you, as the conscience of this community, to find both of these defendants guilty.”

Faal opened his remarks by pointedly noting that the good character of citizens of South-Central Los Angeles is irrelevant to the case. Morrison, he said, “saluted the good and decent people of South-Central Los Angeles. The people of South-Central Los Angeles were good and decent long before this case.”

Williams’ supporters said outside court that Morrison’s congratulations to South-Central residents were an effort to say race is not an issue in the trial. Faal’s remarks, they said, were aimed at derailing that effort to downplay the trial’s racial elements.

While Morrison was able to show jurors dramatic scenes from the attack, Faal appeared almost professorial at times, standing with a pointer before enlargements of printed material and discussing the law with the jurors.

He noted that technology exists to enhance videotapes and that prosecutors had used that technology in related cases.

“We will show you that the prosecution had access to that technology and did not use it,” he said, adding that it is significant that it was not used.

Videotapes on which prosecutors are relying are not “true accounts of what happened at Florence and Normandie as it was taking place,” he said. “We will show that (the prosecution’s) videotape distorts reality as it took place at that intersection.”

Faal acknowledged that jurors could have been disturbed by scenes of a man who prosecutors said is Williams spray-painting the body and genitals of one victim as he lay on the ground.

Noting that Williams is charged with assault with a deadly weapon in that incident, Faal said the alleged spray-painting is certainly demeaning, but there is no such crime as “assault with a demeaning weapon.”

He said prosecutors had not identified Williams as the man putting a “dark substance” on the victim, and that there was no significant injury resulting from that substance.

The prosecution has “a big problem with identification” on all of the charges, he said. “As reality sets in, you’ll find there is substantial doubt on the issue of identification on every count alleged against Mr. Williams,” he said.

Karen Ackerson, one of Watson’s attorneys, also argued that prosecutors have not identified her client.

“Don’t let prosecutors catch you hook, line and sinker with a parade of law enforcement officers who were not present at Florence and Normandie,” she said. “No police officers were present.”

Testimony in the trial is scheduled to begin Monday when Alicia Maldonado, a woman who was attacked at the intersection, takes the stand for the prosecution.