LOS ANGELES : Man Convicted in Denny Case Testifies at Trial

Damian Williams, serving a 10-year sentence in connection with the Reginald O. Denny beating, took the stand briefly Monday in the trial of the man accused of shooting at the trucker’s big rig.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin McCormick called Williams, 21, as a prosecution witness in the trial of Lance Parker. Williams supposedly implicated Parker in a tape-recorded confession to police.

But the state prison inmate, transported last week to Los Angeles from a prison near Sacramento, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

Williams is appealing his convictions stemming from the Denny trial. His attorney, Edi M.O. Faal, said that whether his client was even at the intersection where the Denny beating occurred is still an issue on appeal.

Williams was acquitted in October of the most serious charges against him stemming from the attack on Denny and other motorists at Florence and Normandie avenues on April 29, 1992. A jury found him guilty of felony mayhem and four counts of misdemeanor assault.