Suggestion of racism in L.A. trials

  Haya El Nasser

  11/20/1992

  USA Today

  FINAL

  Page 03A

  (Copyright 1992)

  LOS ANGELES - Minority groups watching two potentially explosive court

  cases for signs of racial injustice were served up a pair of developments

  Thursday that could send tempers boiling.

  National Public Radio said it will air a report today that the Justice Department's

  ``order of proof'' - a document outlining the government's entire civil rights case

  against four white police officers charged with beating black motorist Rodney

  King - has been leaked to defense lawyers.

  Justice officials opened its case last summer after the officers were acquitted of

  assault charges against King, touching off three days of rioting.

  Also Thursday, the lawyer for one of three black defendants charged with

  beating white truck driver Reginald Denny during those riots argued in court that

  Damian ``Football'' Williams' former law firm intentionally sabotaged his

  defense, with one witness calling it part of a government conspiracy.

  The cases are regarded as a powder keg if three black men are convicted of

  beating a white man while four white men are found innocent of violating King's

  civil rights. The new allegations imply government help for white defendants

  while hurting black ones.

  ``It's the perception. There is no justice. And no justice, no peace,'' says

  prominent civil rights lawyer R. Samuel Paz. ``We should certainly begin to

  discuss the likelihood of this happening in advance and allow people to talk

  about it.''

  In the King case - scheduled for trial Feb. 2 - NPR Legal Affairs correspondent

  Nina Totenberg says the memo given to defense lawyers lists ``what

  (prosecutors) intend to prove, and how ... what evidence they will use ... what

  the witnesses will say, what the weak links in the case are.''

  The NPR report quotes Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights John Dunne,

  in charge of the King case: ``This casts a shadow over the integrity of the Justice

  Department that I simply can't discuss.''

  The case against the police took a blow last week when U.S. District Judge John

  Davies ruled jurors will not be allowed to hear evidence that three of the

  defendants were implicated in other police abuse cases.

  He also ruled that racist comments made in computer messages just prior to the

  King beating will not be admitted.

  Meanwhile, in a hearing in the Denny case, Ed M.O. Faal, lawyer for Williams,

  questioned a Los Angeles Times reporter and Williams' former lawyer, Dennis

  Palmieri, to shed light on a suspected plot to botch Williams' defense.

  Palmieri, fired as Williams' lawyer, worked for the Center for Constitutional Law

  and Justice. The head of the center, Fred Sebastian, is a twice-convicted felon

  known as Frederick Celani.

  Celani sent the Times recorded statements claiming he was hired by the federal

  government to sabotage Williams' case. He accuses the government of inciting

  the April 29 riots and claims agents drugged Williams while in custody.

  Palmieri testified Celani called Williams ``scum'' and told him the center took the

  case just for publicity.

  Civil rights groups are watching as the hearing continues today. ``We're waiting

  to see if the Denny situation is going to be given the same kind of credibility as

  the Rodney King situation,'' says Jose De Sosa, state NAACP president. ``Due

  process. That's what we're looking at.''

  Contributing: Jonathan T. Lovitt

  CUTLINE:IN L.A.: Georgiana Williams, mother of Damian Williams, charged

  with beating truck driver Reginald Denny, in court Thursday.

  PHOTO,b/w,Nick Ut,AP