Penn Will Stand Trial in Slaying of Officer and 2 Other Shootings

Calling the case “truly a tragedy for all of San Diego,” Municipal Court Judge J. Richard Haden ordered Friday that Sagon Penn stand trial in Superior Court on charges of killing a San Diego policeman and wounding another officer and a police ride-along.

The judge’s ruling came after testimony taken at a hospital from patrolman Donovan J. Jacobs in a closed hearing contradicted that by witnesses to the shootings.

Haden, while noting that there were apparent inconsistencies in the testimony between some witnesses--including that of Jacobs --nonetheless determined after a week-long preliminary hearing that there was sufficient evidence to try Penn for the March 31 shootings.

In doing so, the judge dismissed assertions from Penn’s attorney, Robert Slatten, that Penn had been stopped unlawfully, was beaten by the officers and was acting in self-defense when he grabbed the holstered revolver of policeman Donovan J. Jacobs and began firing.

Penn is to be arraigned in Superior Court June 3 on charges of murdering Officer Thomas E. Riggs, and attempting to murder Jacobs and Sarah Pina-Ruiz, a civilian observer who was accompanying Riggs. The 23-year-old karate expert has pleaded innocent and remains in San Diego County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Jacobs, recuperating at Grossmont Hospital, testified Friday from a hospital conference room about the shootings, but the judge barred the public and reporters from the proceeding, citing the officer’s health. Jacobs continues to suffer pain in his arms and neck, and experiences slight paralysis in his left arm and left leg.

In recalling how he was shot, Jacobs’ voice choked with emotion and tears welled in his eyes, according to Deputy District Atty. Michael Carpenter, who was present. At one point, the hearing had to be temporarily stopped so that Jacobs could compose himself.

According to a court transcript obtained late Friday, Jacobs testified that he stopped Penn because he suspected Penn to be a gang member and also because the truck Penn was driving had failed to signal before making a left-hand turn.

Jacobs said he asked for Penn’s driver’s license and that he fought with Penn only after the suspect stormed away from the truck and appeared to hit Riggs.

Jacobs’ recollection of who first tangled with Penn directly contradicts those of several earlier witnesses, including Pina-Ruiz, who said that violence erupted initially between Jacobs and Penn.

Several witnesses have testified that when Penn refused to remove his driver’s license from his wallet, Jacobs asked Penn if he was a gang member, instigated a scuffle with Penn, directed racial slurs toward him and hit him repeatedly. It was later, according to those same witnesses, that Riggs struck Penn as Jacobs and the suspect wrestled on the ground.

Haden, however, discounted the inconsistency in testimony between Jacobs and Pina-Ruiz over which officer first scuffled with Penn. “The court is aware of the terrible shock to both of these people (Jacobs and Pina-Ruiz),” Haden explained.

The judge also discounted allegations that Penn had been beaten.

“The defendant undoubtedly was struck by the officers with their fists and their batons,” Haden ruled. “But the (evidence) does not convince the court that the defendant was beaten. He was hit as he resisted the officers.”

Prosecutors have alleged that as Penn and Jacobs fought on the ground, Penn wrested away Jacobs’ .38-caliber handgun, shooting Jacobs in the neck. Penn then allegedly shot Riggs twice in the torso, killing him, before walking to Riggs’ patrol car, where Pina-Ruiz sat. Penn allegedly said to Pina-Ruiz, “You’re a witness,” as he fired three bullets at her through a door window.

Pina-Ruiz was wounded in the side, back and arm.

Overriding Slatten’s arguments that Penn had been detained unlawfully, Haden said Jacobs had probable cause to question Penn. Jacobs, a seven-year Police Department veteran, was searching for an armed member of a black gang who had been seen on foot nearby. Riggs and Pina-Ruiz followed close behind in another patrol car.

On Friday, Jacobs testified how he first contacted Penn and asked to see his driver’s license. Penn, Jacobs said, insisted on handing him his wallet rather than the license inside.

San Diego police officers are not permitted to handle a driver’s wallet, and when Jacobs attempted to explain this to Penn, Penn “got real angry and turned around,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs said he never made any racial remarks to Penn, though he couldn’t recall whether he had asked Penn if he were a gang member.

“I took a couple of steps towards him and I recall him saying in a loud, angry voice, ‘Don’t touch me,’ or something to that effect,” Jacobs testified. The officer said he walked around Penn’s truck to stop Penn’s retreat.

“What I recall is when I went around and came from behind the cab of the truck, I saw him, the driver, attacking Officer Riggs, and Officer Riggs was defending himself with a baton,” Jacobs said. “I drew my baton and came up behind (Penn), and I hit him three or four times with my baton in the back and the shoulder area.”

Jacobs said that Penn then turned toward him.

“The next thing that I can recall is that I was on the ground on top of the driver, and he was struggling to get away and I was struggling to hold on to him,” Jacobs testified.

“And what was going through my mind at that time was this guy is trying to get my gun . . . I better do something about it. . . . I began to hit the driver with my fist about in the upper chest area.

“During this time I was telling him to roll over, to roll over, to give up, to roll over . . . He was turning over, so I reached back with my left hand and brought out my handcuffs and then, the next thing I know, I was, I heard a gunshot, and I knew I had been shot and I could see . . . “

“I recall hearing people screaming, some additional gunshots going off and kept saying to myself, ‘Get up. Get up.’ I recall that I couldn’t get up.

“I remember hearing a sound of an engine, car engine, and I was thinking to myself, ‘He is going to run me over. He is going to run me over.’ I then got run over by, I believe, what was my police car, I believe, and I recall laying in the dirt and then--people still screaming and yelling and then--police officers arriving and paramedics.”