Transcripts of Denny Juror’s Dismissal to Be Released : Courts: Records are of hearings leading to removal of a woman for alleged incompetence. The judge also will rule on a defense request that another panelist be dismissed.

The judge in the Reginald O. Denny beating trial said Wednesday that he will release the transcripts of controversial closed court hearings he used to remove a black woman from the jury for allegedly failing to deliberate.

Superior Court Judge John W. Ouderkirk said he would release the previously sealed transcripts today and that he would rule on a defense request to remove a white woman from the panel for alleged incompetence and misconduct.

The text of that defense request, ordered sealed earlier because it is based on testimony during a closed hearing, also will be released today, Ouderkirk said.

“I plan to make everybody happy, at least as happy as I can,” Ouderkirk said.

Attorneys for The Times and New York Newsday wrote the judge Wednesday, asking that the transcripts be made public. Attorneys for the Radio and Television News Assn. of Southern California and the Los Angeles chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People later joined in that request.

Speculation about the judge’s rationale for removing the woman--known only as Juror 373--has run rampant since she was excluded on Monday after deliberations had begun. The jury had reached verdicts on two counts against defendant Henry Keith Watson before she was removed--clear evidence, defense attorneys said, that she participated in deliberations.

Those verdicts were ordered sealed when she was removed and replaced by a Japanese-American woman in her 20s. The jury was instructed to begin deliberating again. The newly constituted jury reached verdicts on the same counts Monday afternoon, but those decisions also had to be sealed after Ouderkirk excused the lone white male--Juror 152--from the panel for “personal hardship” unrelated to the trial. Once again, the jury began its deliberations anew on Tuesday.

Attorney Edi M. O. Faal, who represents defendant Damian Monroe Williams, said he had planned to seek the removal of Juror 152 and a white woman--Juror 104--before the judge excused Juror 152. Afterward, Faal filed a motion to remove Juror 104 for alleged incompetence and misconduct.

Faal said his action against Juror 104 had nothing to with race, and that he was using the same standard Ouderkirk used to remove Juror 373 on Monday.

He could not elaborate on that standard, he said, because it only came up in the closed hearing.

“If the transcripts are released, the public will see there has been misconduct by Juror 104,” Faal said earlier.

By agreeing to release the transcripts, Ouderkirk may be taking the first step toward returning public attention to the two defendants’ guilt or innocence and away from apparent turmoil in the jury room.

He has conducted several closed sessions with attorneys from both sides present, and ordered the transcripts of those proceedings sealed. He has said that he acted to preserve the sanctity of the jury deliberation process and to protect the jurors’ anonymity.

On Wednesday, he said a juror removed earlier for misconduct had to be moved to a new hotel after a source outside the court identified him to a television station. That juror, a middle-age black man, allegedly discussed the case with neighbors and announced that he would vote to convict the defendants even before he heard the entire defense case. He was replaced by an African-American woman who appears to be in her 30s.

He was one of five jurors removed from the panel. Two others were excused for illness, Juror 152 for personal hardship and Juror 373 for failing to deliberate. The panel now includes four African-Americans, four Latinos, two Anglos and two Asian-Americans.

Ouderkirk agreed Wednesday to release transcripts of all closed hearings he has conducted during the volatile and closely watched trial, but he said the court reporter may not have all of them ready today.

He also said he would consider releasing edited transcripts of all conversations he has had with jurors without the attorneys present after any information that might be used to identify them has been removed.

The jury is weighing the fate of Williams, 20, and Watson, 29, who are charged with premeditated attempted murder in the beating of Denny at Florence and Normandie avenues, a flash point for rioting last year.

Williams also is accused of aggravated mayhem--intentionally causing permanent disability or disfigurement--for allegedly hitting Denny in the head with a brick. Attempted premeditated murder and aggravated mayhem carry maximum penalties of life in prison.

The two men also are charged with assaulting or robbing seven other people at the intersection as rioting broke out after not guilty verdicts in the Rodney G. King beating trial in Simi Valley.