Denny Judge Says Sentencing Focus Is Williams Only

The causes of the Los Angeles riots are irrelevant to the sentence that should be imposed on Damian Monroe Williams for his role in the beating of Reginald O. Denny, a judge ruled Wednesday, saying, “I don’t know and I don’t care” about the reasons that other rioters participated in the violence.

Attorney Edi M.O. Faal, who represents Williams, asked Superior Court Judge John W. Ouderkirk to clarify his comment. “You don’t care about what?” Faal asked.

“I don’t care about other people,” Ouderkirk said. “I care about Mr. Williams and his participation.” He said his sole concern “is with the sentencing of Mr. Williams and not any other person who may have participated in a riot for whatever personal reasons they had or didn’t have.”

The exchange came at a sentencing hearing for Williams, 20, who was convicted of mayhem for hitting Denny in the head with a brick and of four misdemeanor counts of assault stemming from attacks on other people at Florence and Normandie avenues, a flash point for last year’s riot.

Prosecutors have asked that Williams be given the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison when he is sentenced Tuesday. Activists, including actor Martin Sheen, have written Ouderkirk to urge that Williams be sentenced to probation.

Defense attorneys who have tried cases before Ouderkirk said the judge issues stern sentences, and they expect him to impose the maximum sentence on Williams.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Ouderkirk responded to a prosecution objection and interrupted testimony by Brotherhood Crusade President Danny Bakewell, who was attempting to describe factors he saw as underlying the attacks at the intersection.

Bakewell said he believes that Williams should receive a sentence comparable to the 30-month prison terms imposed on former Los Angeles Police Officer Laurence M. Powell and Sgt. Stacey C. Koon after they were convicted on federal charges of violating Rodney G. King’s civil rights. Since California prisoners normally serve half of their prison terms, a 30-month sentence would leave Williams eligible for release because he already has served 18 months in jail.

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During a recess, Bakewell said outside court that he was outraged that Ouderkirk had said “he doesn’t care about the climate of the community.” He called the judge’s comments “outrageous, ridiculous and intolerable,” noting that Denny has urged that Williams be sentenced to probation.

“It is time now to get on with the healing,” Bakewell said.

Faal told reporters that he did not come into the sentencing hearing “to beg for anything. I personally believe Judge Ouderkirk has a bias against Damian Williams.” He said he had once asked Ouderkirk if he had such a bias, and the judge denied it.

After the recess, Vincent Schiraldi, executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, testified about a report his organization had prepared for Faal, urging sentencing options for Williams including probation, electronically monitored house arrest, community service and restitution.

Under cross-examination from Deputy Dist. Atty. Janet Moore, Schiraldi acknowledged that in preparing his report he had not viewed videotapes of the attacks at Florence and Normandie and had not spoken to any victims.

In a nine-page sentencing memorandum submitted to Ouderkirk, Moore urged that Williams be given the maximum penalty. Los Angeles’ riots “provided the opportunity for people to become the best that they could be or the worst that they could be,” Moore wrote.

“Defendant Williams chose to become a force of destruction,” she said. “He initiated attacks, encouraged the brutality of others, and, of his own volition, committed assaults that were vicious, injurious and dehumanizing.” Williams’ victims, she said, “will bear the marks of his violence . . . the rest of their lives.”

The hearing will continue today with testimony from two more defense witnesses.

Williams and his co-defendant, Henry Keith Watson, 29, had been charged with attempting to murder Denny, among other felonies. They were acquitted of the most serious charges, which carried maximum penalties of life in prison, and the jury deadlocked on a felonious assault charge against Watson, who was convicted of misdemeanor assault for placing his foot on Denny’s neck.

Watson, who spent 17 months in jail, later pleaded guilty to the felonious assault charge in exchange for a sentence of three years probation and no jail time.

Another man who had been a defendant in the Denny beating trial was sentenced Wednesday to 27 months probation and 100 hours of community service in accordance with a plea bargain reached last month.

As part of the plea agreement, Antoine Miller, 21, pleaded guilty to felonious assault and two misdemeanors stemming from attacks at Florence and Normandie.

Miller was granted a separate trial when Ouderkirk ruled that evidence against Williams and Watson could be prejudicial to his case.

Superior Court Judge Cecil Mills urged Miller, who was captured on videotape opening the door of Denny’s truck, to stay out of trouble and get job training.

“Don’t come back here, Mr. Miller, with a significant (probation) violation,” Mills said, adding that if Miller successfully completes his probation, he will consider dropping the felony charge from his record.

Maginnis said Miller has been working part time as an auto mechanic since he was released from jail Oct. 20.