Alleged Plotter of Officer’s Assassination : Killing Suspect Guilty in Earlier Shooting

Daniel Steven Jenkins, accused Tuesday of conspiring to kill police Detective Thomas C. Williams for testifying against him in a robbery trial, pleaded guilty in 1979 to shooting a man whose son had filed a complaint against him with police.

Court records show that Jenkins was charged with attempted murder for shooting Horace Monroe Sr. on Nov. 23, 1978, after he warned Monroe’s son not to tell police about a pistol-whipping the day before. Jenkins allegedly beat the younger Monroe after an argument.

After the son, Horace Monroe Jr., reported the pistol-whipping to police, Jenkins fired a shotgun at both the Monroes, wounding the father in the shoulder, court records show.

A jury deadlocked on the attempted-murder charge in September, 1979. Jenkins pleaded guilty under a plea bargain to a reduced charge of assault with a deadly weapon, records show. He was sentenced to one year in County Jail and three years’ probation.

In a separate case, Jenkins was sentenced in December, 1979, to one year in County Jail and five years’ probation for possessing stolen credit cards, records show. In that case, he pleaded guilty to two counts of receiving stolen property.

Jenkins, 30, was convicted last week in San Fernando Superior Court of one count each of robbery and assault for the Oct. 14, 1984, holdup of a movie theater manager in North Hollywood.

It was in that trial that Williams, who investigated the case, spent much of Thursday afternoon providing what lawyers on both sides characterized as routine testimony.

Jurors returned their verdict against Jenkins late Friday morning, about 18 hours after Williams was gunned down as he picked up his 6-year-old son at a church day care center in Canoga Park.

Police Chief Daryl F. Gates said Tuesday that the original assassination plan, which police said was masterminded by Jenkins, called for Williams to be killed on the first day of the trial, before he could testify.

Jenkins was free on $16,000 bail at the time of the Halloween slaying. San Fernando Superior Court Judge Bruce J. Sottile, who was flanked by armed bailiffs and plainclothes police officers, ordered him placed in custody immediately after the conviction.

At a hearing on the case Monday, in which Jenkins was led into court in shackles as a bailiff armed with a shotgun guarded the courtroom door, prosecutors asked Sottile to put on the record that Jenkins has two felony convictions.

Because of the convictions, Jenkins will not be eligible for probation when he appears for sentencing Nov. 27, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Knight said. Sottile could order Jenkins to serve as much as eight years in state prison on the robbery conviction, Knight said.

Prosecutors said the increased security surrounding Jenkins’ robbery trial was justified both by Williams’ death immediately after he testified and by the unsolved shooting July 4 of the key witness in the case.

Shot 4 Times

The witness, George Carpenter, a North Hollywood movie theater manager, was shot four times by an unidentified man as he sat in a bar a few blocks from the theater where he worked. Carpenter was critically injured but survived. Police have made no arrests in that shooting.

At Jenkins’ robbery trial last week, Carpenter identified Jenkins as the man who took more than $4,600 from him at gunpoint last year while he was dropping off the evening’s theater proceeds at the Valley Plaza branch of the Bank of America.

Carpenter testified that Jenkins approached him and another theater employee, Jim Bruceri, as they drove up to the bank’s night depository.

Carpenter said that, as he stepped out of the car, leaving the money with Bruceri, Jenkins emerged from a nearby parked car and pointed a handgun at him, demanding that he turn over the money.

Money Tossed

When Carpenter told Jenkins he did not have the money, Jenkins fired a shot at him but missed, Carpenter said. Carpenter told Bruceri to toss the money from the car as another man, who remained hidden inside the parked car, yelled at Jenkins to “shoot him anyway,” Carpenter said.

Jenkins fired one more shot before fleeing with the cash bag, Carpenter testified. Carpenter, who said he saw the license plate number on the getaway car, was not injured.

Williams testified at the trial that Jenkins was arrested Oct. 29 by investigators who traced the car to him. In addition, Williams described Jenkins’ limp--one of the characteristics Carpenter noted about the man who robbed him.

Jenkins was released on bail the day after his arrest, court records show.

Times staff writer Michael Seiler contributed to this article.