Lungren Calls Verdicts ‘Body Blow’ to Justice : Courts: Attorney general says he fears that acquittals will send a message condoning violence. Meanwhile, jurors continue to argue about what took place during deliberations.

Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren on Tuesday called the verdicts in the Reginald O. Denny beating case a “body blow to the justice system,” and said the acquittals sent a message similar to justifications that he said were used in the Old South to explain away lynchings.

Jurors continued to argue about the verdicts, which resulted in the dismissal of all but one felony charge.

One juror said the panel’s verdicts stemmed from “reasonable doubt” that the two co-defendants were guilty of attempted murder.

Another juror, the lone alternate on the panel, repeated her criticism of the verdicts in a television interview to be aired tonight. The woman, who did not participate in the jury discussions, charged that one juror was threatened during deliberations.

The jury’s forewoman denied that such a threat occurred.

Lungren--California’s chief law enforcement officer, making the first pointed criticism of the verdict by a state official--said he is worried that “people somehow accept this argument that if you’re involved in a mob, you’re less responsible for your actions.”

He was apparently alluding to the fact that during the trial, attorneys for Damian Monroe Williams and Henry Keith Watson contended that the spontaneity of the violence at Florence and Normandie avenues precluded the premeditation necessary to convict the defendants of attempted murder, or Williams of aggravated mayhem. Both charges carried life sentences. The jury acquitted Williams and Watson of those charges; it convicted Williams of a lesser charge of simple mayhem and convicted Watson of misdemeanor assault for placing his foot on Denny.

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In their limited post-trial comments, jurors have not addressed whether the defense argument of “mob contagion” during a riot influenced their verdicts. Nevertheless, Lungren contended that “the enormity of that question is particularly troubling. It is the same argument you used to hear people give for defense or excuse about lynchings in the South. They would say: ‘Well, they all got caught up in the moment.’ ”

However, Juror 307, a 22-year-old Latina, told the Washington Post on Tuesday that the jury did not convict the defendants of attempted murder because “there was blood on Denny before he was pulled out of the truck,” and a brick could be seen inside the cab of Denny’s truck, suggesting that the trucker could have been injured by other assailants as defense attorneys argued.

“I couldn’t see attempted murder because if (Williams) attempted to kill him, why did he only hit him once?” she said. “Why not just keep hitting him?”

She said jurors were aware of demonstrators outside the Downtown Criminal Courts Building because they could hear them.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, these people are waiting on this verdict,’ ” she said.

Lungren’s comments came at a news conference he called to announce his support of Proposition 174, the school voucher initiative on Tuesday’s ballot.

Later, when asked about the verdicts in the beating case, Lungren said: “What do we tell someone who is pulled out of a car, beaten almost to unconsciousness, stripped, and has his genitals spray-painted? (A reference to riot victim Fidel Lopez, who was spray-painted by Williams.) That is (merely) simple assault, or not an assault at all? I can’t explain that.”

The Denny jury’s alternate said Tuesday that she believed threats were made during deliberations.

“My understanding is that one of the jurors . . . told people if deliberations weren’t done and a conclusion come to, basically the way she wanted . . . that she basically would blow them away,” the alternate told “Inside Edition” in a telephone interview.

The jury’s forewoman, who appeared on camera on the show but identified herself only as Carol, responded: “I don’t know where she got that. I would hate to call her a liar, but . . . one juror never said to another: ‘You better go with the way the majority is going or else.’ ”

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Meanwhile, Alicia Maldonado, one of the victims at Florence and Normandie who testified during the trial, also spoke out for the first time, condemning the verdicts as a vote for “hoodlums and thugs.”

“The message this sends out is that hoodlums run the city and everyone is too scared to do anything about it,” Maldonado said.

Williams was convicted of throwing an object at Maldonado as she was driving through the intersection. He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, but the jury convicted him of the lesser crime of misdemeanor assault.

Maldonado, who was uninjured in the incident, accused the jury of being too cowardly to stand up under the pressure.

“These people were definitely incompetent,” she said. “I’m very upset. Someone threw a rock at my car and that’s not a weapon? The message for youngsters really sucks. There is no respect for law and order.”

Maldonado said that now that the trial is over she is planning to leave the Los Angeles area as soon as possible.

“When the city sinks and is run by the Bloods and the Crips, I’m gong to be somewhere else reading about it in the paper,” she said.

Williams, 20, faces up to 10 years in prison for his conviction for simple mayhem and four counts of misdemeanor assault. Watson, 29, was convicted of misdemeanor assault and has served more time than the maximum sentence of six months in jail.

Los Angeles County prosecutors are considering retrying Watson on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon in the beating of trucker Larry Tarvin. The jury deadlocked 9 to 3 for acquittal on that count.

At his news conference, Lungren did not specifically criticize the jury.

“I didn’t sit in their seats. I didn’t hear what they heard,” he said. “By the same token, to the outside, it is another body blow to the justice system. I hope we won’t see another increase in the purchase of weapons.”

Meanwhile, a newly released transcript of closed court hearings reveals that defense attorney Edi M.O. Faal was once exasperated by the behavior of Don Jackson, a spokesman for the Williams family.

Faal was upset that Jackson gave a TV television interview on the removal of one juror.

“I have no control whatsoever over Mr. Jackson,” Faal said. “He does his things. This is one (instance) where I wish he did not speak to anyone.”

Lungren said that the penalties for getting caught in a mob mentality must be harsh so people will stop themselves before they take “the kinds of brutal actions that were taken against innocent people during the riot.”

“If somehow . . . people get the notion that if you’re involved in a mob and you’re rioting, you can do whatever you damned please, that would be the worst possible outcome of this whole event,” Lungren added.

Times staff writer Ashley Dunn contributed to this story.