
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 3, 1993                   TAG: 9311030148
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Short

DENNY DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY

A man who was cleared of most charges in the beating of truck driver Reginald Denny pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony assault, the one charge on which the jury had deadlocked. The plea agreement spared him a prison term.

Henry Watson pleaded guilty to one count of assault with a deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury. His plea came in an attack on trucker Larry Tarvin, who like Denny was pulled from his rig and beaten at the flashpoint of last year's riots.

"I'd just like to apologize to Mr. Tarvin and Mr. Denny . . . and all the other victims that were there at the intersection on April 29, 1992," Watson said.

Co-defendant Damian Williams, convicted of felony mayhem in Denny's beating, was denied lower bail. He returned to jail to await sentencing.

The jury had convicted Watson on Oct. 20 of misdemeanor assault on Denny and acquitted him of all other charges.

by CNB