The final act of catharsis after last year's riots begins this week with opening statements in the attempted-murder trial of two black men accused of beating white truck driver Reginald Denny.
A jury of five whites, three blacks, three Hispanics and one Asian was seated last week for the racially volatile case against Henry Watson, 28, and Damian Williams, 20. Six alternates remained to be chosen. Opening statements are set for Thursday.The televised attack on Denny on April 29, 1992, came to symbolize the fury unleashed in South Central Los Angeles when four white policemen were acquitted in the Rodney King beating.
At the corner of Florence and Normandie avenues, the flash-point of the riots, a cameraman in a helicopter recorded Denny being dragged from his truck, beaten and bashed in the head with a brick and a fire extinguisher.
Watson's lawyer, Earl Broady, tried to convince prosecutors that a plea bargain was in order. "It may save the community from the same type of uproar, the same type of insurrection," he said.
District Attorney Gil Garcetti once expressed interest in plea bargaining but abandoned that position in recent months, saying a trial will help defuse community anger.
Jury selection was complicated earlier this month by the sentencing of the two policemen convicted in federal court of violating King's civil rights.