LOS ANGELES : Denny Beating Suspect Sentenced in Another Case

One of the suspects accused of beating truck driver Reginald O. Denny was sentenced Monday to two years in state prison for an unrelated probation violation, and another was being held in a jail psychiatric ward for observation.

Henry Keith (Kiki) Watson, 27, has been charged with attacking Denny and four other people at Florence and Normandie avenues on April 29, a few hours after the not guilty verdicts were handed down in the Rodney G. King beating case. Although the preliminary hearing against the Denny suspects will not be held until July 31, Watson was sentenced Monday for failing to keep in contact with his probation officer.

He was on probation for stealing $6,662 from a Loomis Armored truck in 1990.

Another suspect, Damian Monroe (Football) Williams, 19, was under psychiatric observation Monday after authorities said he was found curled up near a toilet in his cell, mumbling that he intended to commit suicide. His lawyers denied that, and said Williams had told sheriff’s deputies that he thought he was “going to die” because of medication that was making him ill.