2 More Plead Not Guilty in Ambush Slaying of Officer

The last two of the four men charged with the Oct. 31 ambush slaying of Los Angeles police Detective Thomas C. Williams have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Voltaire Williams, 22, and Ruben A. (Tony) Moss, 24, entered their pleas Friday before Van Nuys Municipal Court Commissioner Patricia Schwartz.

Daniel Steven Jenkins, 30, who police allege pulled the trigger, pleaded not guilty to the charges Wednesday. The fourth defendant, Duane Moody, 27, entered his not-guilty plea Nov. 8. All four defendants are from Los Angeles.

Police allege that the four planned the killing of the detective to prevent him from testifying against Jenkins in a robbery case in San Fernando Superior Court. Police said that, when two would-be assassins failed to kill the officer before he testified, Jenkins murdered the officer hours after he testified. Police allege that the would-be assassins were Voltaire Williams and another man who has not been charged.

The officer was killed by automatic gunfire while he was picking up his son, who turned 7 last week, at a Canoga Park church’s child-care center.

In another development Friday, Schwartz appointed an attorney to advise Moody that he may have a conflict of interest with the lawyer he has hired to represent him. Two witnesses who are expected to testify against Moody are business associates of his attorney, Douglas L. Young, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard L. Jenkins.

The prosecutor said the two witnesses are making a movie about one of Young’s clients. The prosecutor said they told police that they heard Moody say on Oct. 16 that, if Detective Williams testified against his friend, Daniel Jenkins, “I would kill” Williams.

Young said he was present when the conversation took place and that the statement attributed to Moody is a “complete fabrication.”

Prosecutors said one of the witnesses is Michael S. Canale. Canale, of Rosemead, is a one-time neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan member who last year claimed to have converted and embraced the Jewish Defense League. Canale, an admitted heroin addict with a long string of burglary convictions, has been repudiated by Irv Rubin, head of the Los Angeles chapter of the JDL, for making anti-Semitic statements.

In 1980, Canale was convicted of arson in the burning of a Temple City synagogue.

Moody is to appear in court Monday to say whether he will retain Young or hire a new lawyer.

Moody’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Schwartz said he will hear pretrial motions Dec. 12, when preliminary hearings will be held for Steven Jenkins, Voltaire Williams and Moss.

The four, who could face the death penalty if convicted, are being held without bail in Los Angeles County Jail.