A Jury Doing the Best It Can Is the Best We Have : Third major trial in two years winds down to an uneasy conclusion

Justice, like beauty, is frequently in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps for many who looked at--and looked at, and looked at--the infamous videotape of the beating of trucker Reginald O. Denny, the only just verdict against defendants Damian M. Williams and Henry K. Watson would have been convictions on the most serious charges. But a jury of four African-Americans, four Latinos, two Asian-Americans and two whites has so far leaned in the other direction: not guilty on all but one felony count and five misdemeanors. The panel is scheduled to resume deliberations today although two jurors fell ill Tuesday. The charges on which it has been deadlocked are an assault count against Watson and an attempted murder charge against Williams.

Is this jury rendering justice? In the end--after all the motions, evidence, videotape replays, summations and deliberations--the decisions are the jury’s alone to make. That’s how our sometimes battered but time-honored system works.

Consider the impact of videotapes in this trial and in the state and federal trials of the four police officers charged with beating Rodney G. King. Few crimes are videotaped; it just so happened that these were. Videotapes make everyone an instant expert: In sporting events instant replay allows viewers to second-guess the umpire or referee; in these three cases they allowed everyone to second-guess the juries. Is it any coincidence that the three most upsetting criminal trials in Los Angeles’ memory had videotapes as key elements? No.

The jury has convicted Damian Monroe Williams of four misdemeanors and a single felony; Henry Keith Watson has been convicted of a single misdemeanor. But on the most serious charges against both, those carrying life sentences, the jury has acquitted or is deadlocked. What about those unforgettable video images of the 1992 riots’ flash point, at Florence and Normandie avenues? Well, trucker Denny, who has reason to be bitter, has chosen neither to dwell on the attack nor his attackers. His lawyer says Denny wants no second trial if the jury remains deadlocked on the remaining counts. His desire to get on with his life should guide us all. Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti has the right to order a second trial, but Los Angeles should be spared a rehash of this sad chapter in its history.

Even apart from videotapes, controversy has stalked this important case from the start and could figure in the appeals planned by the defense--or could complicate any retrial if the jury hangs on any charge in the end. Former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates personally arrested Williams in a high-profile pre-dawn raid--a highly unusual, and unnecessary, action. At one point the suspects were actually charged with torture; that volatile charge was eventually dropped. Then-Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner challenged the original assignment of Superior Court Judge Roosevelt F. Dorn, then the only African-American on the downtown criminal court; Dorn was removed. The perception that young black men do not always get a fair shake in court was perhaps further reinforced when Judge John W. Ouderkirk removed an African-American juror for “failure to deliberate”--never mind that the jury forewoman who had made the request for removal is also black.

In the original jury call, most of those summoned as prospective jurors failed to appear. Many who did appear requested they be excused. The individuals who eventually would serve more than 2 1/2 months deserve the city’s appreciation and gratitude.

Even after the judge replaced a number of the original jurors, the panel remained well integrated and far better reflected Los Angeles’ diversity than did the nearly all-white panel that handed down not guilty verdicts in the state trial of the four policemen.

Two and a half years have passed since the King incident. The riots following the verdicts in the policemen’s state trial occurred a year and a half ago. The major parties now have had their day in court. Mayor Richard Riordan and Police Chief Willie L. Williams had it right the other day. Sitting side by side at a press conference following the reading of the verdicts on Monday (isn’t it wonderful, by the way, to have a mayor and a police chief who actually communicate with each other, unlike their predecessors?), Riordan and Williams said it simply, they said it firmly, and they said it right: Los Angeles--all of us in all parts of this vast and diverse city--must move on.