Jury’s Verdicts in Beating Case

Video, schmideo! You heave a concrete block unto an already injured person’s head with enough violence and force to shatter his skull and your defense is that you didn’t “intend” to cause that person grave damage, perhaps disfigurement or death? And the jury bought that story? Come on, give us all a break. But, please, not at Florence and Normandie, and certainly not in a Los Angeles courtroom. The Denny case jury makes the first King jury look like a bunch of geniuses!

MARY BERNSEN

Garden Grove

* The verdicts were a severe setback for everyone concerned with racial harmony and equality in Los Angeles. Were Henry Keith Watson and Damian Monroe Williams victims of racism and discrimination throughout their lives? Probably so. Have these young men been placed in poverty-stricken South-Central due to historical trends of oppression and hopelessness? Definitely.

But what these men did was wrong, plain and simple. If minority groups in our country are to advance toward equality, we must be held personally responsible for our actions. Racism and discrimination will never go away if we do not condemn immoral acts by our people. We will never advance as a society if we do not abhor acts of senseless violence. As the noted black philosopher Cornell West writes, “We indeed must criticize and condemn immoral acts of black people, but we must do so cognizant of the circumstances into which people are born and under which they live.” I pray for the elimination of all racial hatred and inequality in our society. However, as long as we champion violent acts by our youth as being inevitable consequences of an unequal society, we will never advance as a people.

JIM BLACKMAN

Los Angeles

* In a somewhat ironic twist, many who had found videotape evidence singularly incriminating in the trial of the four police officers who beat Rodney King now concede, in the Denny beating trial, that video does not tell the whole story, an argument frequently used by those who supported the jury in the first trial of Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell, and denigrated by those who wrote off the jury as “racist.”

Regarding racism, one only needs to consider whether the Denny jury would have made different decisions if a group of Caucasians had pulled an African-American truck driver from his vehicle and assaulted him with potentially deadly objects. I only wonder now whether President Clinton will respond in like fashion, as his predecessor did in the last trial, and order the Justice Department to investigate the violation of Reginald Denny’s civil rights.

GEORGE BRYSON

Irvine

* Ron Harris’ column (Oct. 19) showed me how some whites really feel about African-Americans. I’ve heard whites say that they’re buying guns, going to shop in white areas, moving out of Los Angeles, etc. I have not met any African-American who thinks that it’s open season on whites.

What happened to Denny was wrong, but to severely convict these men--men, not “thugs” or “animals”--is way too harsh. As an African-American, I’m asking all whites “let’s work together.” I’m upset about a lot of injustices not only in the court system but also in the business sector. We need to start a new level of respect, a new level of caring and a new level of understanding.

When I first heard the reactions from whites I was very upset; I’m glad those feelings are gone. We need to come and work together as one people. My hand is out waiting for yours--what do you say?

MICHAEL MITCHELL

Reseda

* We can all thank Judge Joyce Karlin, Rodney King, Laurence Powell, Stacey Koon, Williams and Watson for dragging race relations between blacks and whites back 30 years; and to think some people are celebrating. Quiet riots are just as devastating as explosive ones.

ALFRED ABRUSIA

Los Angeles

* In his typically thoughtful and thought-provoking manner, Dennis Prager (Commentary, Oct. 20) maintained that the Denny trial jury chose peace over justice. Prager’s hope is that by lowering “the level of black anger” the verdicts may help to bring racial peace to our city and country. If so, the jurors’ choice “will have been a wise one.”

But surely the only kind of peace worth pursuing and preserving in this city, county, state or nation is one founded upon justice. The demonstrators’ chant “No justice, no peace” is intended to intimidate through the threat of civil disturbance and may have worked in this case. However reprehensible such a tactic, we must not reject the conjunction of justice and peace, which lies at the heart of civil society.

If Williams does not go to prison for a very long time for what he did to Denny--and that now appears unlikely--justice will not have been done. What will be the likely result? One more stone will have been removed from the foundation of public confidence upon which our governing institutions and our freedoms rest.

Jurors--and public officials--who choose peace over justice dis-serve us all.

JOSEPH M. DESSETTE

Claremont

* Those who are pleased that the jury’s decision in the Denny case may have been partially based on “community needs,” might recall how that concept was used in the past.

White Southern juries convicted African-Americans and members of the communities lynched African-Americans based on the idea of “community needs.” Justice should be blind.

MARTIN BERKOWITZ

Los Angeles

* Regarding the verdicts: Wouldn’t this be a wonderful but a dull world if all of us wake up colorblind one day?

DON C. OKA

North Hollywood

* I am a native Californian, born and raised in Los Angeles. My husband and I have left Los Angeles to live in Kentucky, where the streets aren’t so mean.

I saw my City of Angels burn in 1965; I saw it scream and shatter in 1992. I was evacuated from my office. Crying, I wondered what these people wanted and why they would be so incapable of rational behavior.

Williams and Watson could not possibly care less about what happened in the King trial. They are, simply, hooligans without restraint, committing simple mayhem and simple assault. Which, to me, simply stated, is simple anarchy.

SUSAN COLLINS

Flatwoods, Ky.

* Truly, justice and mercy have fled the Los Angeles Basin.

NINA MURPHY

Redondo Beach

* I’m sure the same people calling for the retrial of Koon and Powell for denying Rodney King his civil rights will be calling for the same for Williams and Watson.

DANIEL HORTON

Chino Hills

* To those who decry the verdicts in the Denny trial and say that the sentences give a certain segment of our society license to attack and commit mayhem: Maybe now you can begin to understand how communities of color feel about the fact that most police abuse cases (including both assaults and homicides), which almost always involve a person of color, never even make it past the Internal Affairs Department of the LAPD. Instead, they are called “justified.” As for the minute percentage that do end up going to trial, they seem to end in leniency for the officers.

Does this mean that because of the lenient outcomes in abuse cases, the police have a license to attack and commit mayhem on communities of color?

LELAINE LAU

Venice

* In all the ensuing noise of the verdicts, the one sound that will not be heard will be that of the glass curtain being drawn tighter--further polarizing race relations.

EVELYN M. BENTLEY

Los Angeles

* After the lengthy trial in which both the prosecutors and the defense lawyers had their day in court, it’s obvious that the prosecutors from the district attorney’s office were plainly “out-lawyered” by a more experienced defense attorney--Edi M.O. Faal. Both sides presented an excellent case, but the defense viewpoint made points with the jurors. Make no mistake, fear was a factor in arriving at these decisions.

CHARLES S. HENRY

Los Angeles

* I was so glad to hear that Reginald Denny has forgiven his “attackers.” What a kind and generous man. I wish that Denny and his attorney would utilize the same amount of charity toward Los Angeles and its taxpayers. If they succeed in their suit, the innocent taxpayer will be paying for Denny’s injuries. The majority of Angelenos did not riot and did not commit mayhem. Yet, we will be picking up the tab. Mr. Denny, I guess talk and forgiveness are, indeed, cheap.

S. MARTINEZ

West Hills