1 of Denny’s 1992 Attackers Is Cleared in Theft
Antoine Miller, one of the men convicted of beating truck driver Reginald Denny during the Los Angeles riots in 1992, has been acquitted of stealing $252 worth of cigarettes from a Fountain Valley drugstore.
The 25-year-old was arrested in March in a car with two other men and 12 cartons of cigarettes stolen from the store. An Orange County jury acquitted him Wednesday, ending the prospect of a seven-year prison term.
Another man pleaded guilty and testified that Miller had nothing to do with the theft, said Maria Hernandez, deputy Orange County public defender.
Miller pleaded guilty in 1993 to grand theft, receiving stolen property and felony assault. Television viewers around the country saw the attack on Denny, videotaped from helicopters at the beginning of the April 29, 1992, riots.
Miller spent 17 months in jail for assaulting Denny and two women. He was placed on 27 months’ probation after a plea bargain.
He was arrested again Aug. 26, 1994, for having a gun in his car and received a six-month prison sentence.
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