San Diego : Penn Ruled Competent to Stand Trial
A Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that Sagon Penn, accused of killing one police officer and wounding another, is mentally competent to stand trial on murder charges.
Attorneys had already begun questioning prospective jurors in Penn’s trial last month when the 23-year-old defendant decided he wanted to hire a new attorney, Milton Silverman. Judge Earl H. Maas Jr. granted the request and at the same time ordered that Penn undergo testing by two county forensic psychiatrists.
After reviewing the confidential psychiatric reports, Judge David M. Gill decided that Penn is fit to stand trial. The new trial is expected to begin in early January.
Penn is charged with killing Officer Thomas E. Riggs, 27, and shooting Officer Donovan Jacobs, 29, and Sara Pina-Ruiz, 33, who was accompanying Riggs in the ride-along program March 31 in Southeast San Diego.
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