Residents in Valley More Likely to Call Verdicts Too Lenient : Sentiment: Polls shows that three-quarters of respondents thought charges on which pair were convicted weren’t sufficiently serious.

Residents of the San Fernando Valley are more likely than those of Los Angeles as a whole to regard the verdicts in the Reginald O. Denny beating as too lenient and to hold the defendants, rather than social ills, responsible, a Times poll has found.

More than three-quarters of the 439 Valley residents interviewed Friday, Saturday and Sunday said they thought the charges on which Henry Keith Watson and Damian Monroe Williams were convicted were not sufficiently serious--a view shared by 63% in the city at large.

Nearly half the Valley respondents, compared to only 41% throughout the city, said they were angry about the verdicts, which 71% said were motivated by the jurors fear of more riots or for their personal safety, not by a search for justice.

“I don’t think the verdict had anything to do with the evidence that was presented in that courtroom,” said Morgan von Rheinenstagdt, a North Hollywood insurance claims representative who was among those polled. “I think the decision of the jury was based solely on politics and fear of what might happen in the city if the group that was protesting chose to take some violent action.”

Reflecting a more conservative view of social problems, Valley residents placed more importance on personal responsibility than others in the city. Fifty-one percent, compared to 38% citywide, held Watson and Williams personally responsible for the attacks, rather than blaming a general sense of outrage in the black community over the verdicts in the King beating trial.

In the Valley, however, the anger was considerably milder than it was when a Simi Valley jury returned not guilty verdicts in May, 1992, against four Los Angeles police officers accused of using excessive force against Rodney G. King.

Valley respondents were also slightly more pessimistic, with 56% saying they find the quality of life getting worse, compared to 50% citywide. And although 61% of those interviewed citywide said they are optimistic that Los Angeles will be able to make major progress toward healing itself in the months to come, only 56% from the Valley thought so, and 38%--6% more than citywide--said it would not begin to heal itself.

“I’m not saying it’s a completely terrible thing,” said Ron Murray, a North Hollywood florist who quit his job recently and plans to move out of Los Angeles after being a victim of armed robbery for the fifth time over the past five years. “In some ways, it might have saved Los Angeles another riot, but the price to pay for that is sending the message that . . . things are lenient, that it’s not too bad if you get caught. You’re not going to be punished that severely.”

The poll of 1,279 residents, which included the Valley sample, found that a majority of people think residents of the city should try to put the episode behind them. The Valley shared that view, with 52%--virtually the same as the 54% citywide--saying they oppose a federal civil-rights investigation into the conduct of Watson and Williams, such as the one that led to the convictions of two of the officers in the King case.

“I wasn’t going to rebel,” said Keith Myers, a real estate broker from Granada Hills who thinks the case should be put to rest even though he disagreed with the verdicts.

“I think that our judicial system isn’t perfect, and I’d like it to be better, but we have to go with the verdict that was rendered.”

Also, the Valley proved not much different than the rest of the city in its view of the long-term effects of the Denny case.

Some 31% of those polled in the Valley thought the Denny case would make race relations worse, and 35% thought the trial’s outcome would encourage more crime and street violence, in each case only 2% higher than the figures for the whole city. Because the margin of sampling error for the Valley portion of the poll is plus or minus 5 percentage points, those differences are considered insignificant.

Nonetheless, von Rheinenstagdt thought the trial verdicts will harm race relations.

“I do think they are getting worse and I do think it is because of the outcome of this trial,” said. “It’s not fair to expect the white or Latino communities or the Asian community of this city to go along with a verdict because there is a segment of the black community that sees that this trial was a way of getting back at the outcome of the King trial.”

Asked what they consider to be the root of the problems facing minority groups in America’s cities, 41% in the Valley selected personal responsibility, compared to only 30% citywide. Some 37%--12 percentage points less than citywide--placed blame on racism and economic injustice.

Specifically relating the question of responsibility to the Denny beating, 82% of those interviewed in the Valley, compared to 68% citywide, said they thought it would be wrong to take the outcome of the Rodney King beating trials into account in considering the case of Denny defendants Watson and Williams.

Seventy-one percent of the Valley residents interviewed said they thought the verdicts were motivated less by a fair and sensible consideration of the evidence than by the jurors’ fear that harsher verdicts might endanger their own safety or cause social unrest.

“I think it’s a little of both,” said North Hollywood resident Suzanne Odell, who was disappointed with the verdicts and said she thinks the jury system has suffered because of the King beating trial.

“It’s a little bit of fear that the defendants or maybe their friends might retaliate.”

The survey was supervised by Times Poll director John Brennan.

Denny Trial Reaction

October, 1993, poll on the verdicts in the Reginald Denny beating trial.

Overall, would you say the quality of life in your community is getting better or getting worse? Worse Valley: 56% All of L.A.: 50% *

Do you think the problems facing minority groups in America’s inner cities are more problems of personal responsibility or are they more problems of racism and economic injustice? Personal responsibility Valley: 41% All of L.A.: 30% *

Do you think the verdicts handed down against Watson and Williams were too harsh, too lenient or about right? Too lenient Valley: 76% All of L.A.: 63% *

Do you agree or disagree that justice was done in the case of Watson and Williams? Disagree Valley: 72% All of L.A.: 62% *

Who or what do you think was most responsible for the attack by Watson and Williams against Reginald Denny and others? Do you think Watson and Williams are personally responsible or were they caught up in the general sense of outrage in the black community over the Rodney King trial verdict, or was it a failure of the LAPD to move fast enough to quell violence? Watson/Williams Valley: 51% All of L.A.: 38% *

Are you optimistic that Los Angeles will be able to make major progress toward healing itself in the months to come? Optimistic Valley: 56% All of L.A.: 61% The poll interviewed 1,279 residents across Los Angeles and 439 in the Valley. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for the city and plus or minus 5 percentage points for the Valley. Note: Numbers do not add up to 100% because not all categories are displayed.

Valley Reaction to Verdicts

October, 1993, poll on the verdicts in the Reginald Denny beating trial.

Would you say that you are personally angry about the verdicts handed down on Watson and Williams? Angry: 49% *

Should the U.S. Justice Department now bring federal charges against Watson and Williams? Favor: 43% *

May, 1992, poll on the verdicts in the Rodney King beating trial in Simi Valley.

Would you say that you are personally angry about the not guilty verdict in the trial of the four police officers accused of using excessive force against Rodney King? Angry: 72% *

Do you favor or oppose the Justice Department moving ahead with a further investigation of the four police officers involved in the King case? Favor: 83% The October, 1993, poll interviewed 439 Valley residents. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Note: Numbers do not add up to 100% because not all categories are displayed.