Officer’s Alleged Killer Charged in 2nd Attack

Daniel S. Jenkins, accused of the Halloween night killing of a police officer who testified against him in a robbery case, has been charged with the Fourth of July shooting of another witness in the case.

Jenkins will be arraigned Friday on a charge of attempted murder stemming from the shooting last year of a North Hollywood theater manager, George Carpenter, as Carpenter sat in a bar, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Jenkins said Wednesday.

Jenkins, 30, and three other men are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the ambush shooting of Los Angeles Police Detective Thomas C. Williams in front of a Canoga Park day-care center on Halloween night. Police have said Jenkins was the man who shot Williams.

Williams spent the afternoon before his death testifying against Jenkins in San Fernando Superior Court on charges that Jenkins robbed Carpenter at gunpoint in North Hollywood on Oct. 14, 1984. Carpenter supplied the license number of the getaway car, which was traced to Jenkins.

On July 4, 1985, Carpenter was shot four times by an unidentified assailant and was critically wounded. He survived the attack, changed his name and moved out of state, returning only to testify against Jenkins at the robbery trial, Los Angeles police said.

Police said at the time that they did not have enough evidence to charge Jenkins with shooting Carpenter. Dist. Atty. Jenkins would not comment Wednesday on what new evidence prompted prosecutors to charge Daniel Jenkins with the crime.

The attempted-murder charge was filed against Jenkins last week.

The day after Williams was killed, jurors convicted Jenkins of robbing and assaulting Carpenter. Jenkins was free on $16,000 bail during the robbery trial.

Public Defender Excused

In another development in the robbery case, the deputy public defender representing Jenkins was allowed Wednesday to excuse himself from case.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Bruce J. Sottile appointed private attorney Howard Price to represent Jenkins in a motion for a new trial and during sentencing in the attack on Carpenter.

A new attorney was needed because an appellate court on Jan. 3 overturned Sottile’s order requiring Deputy Public Defender Norman Koplof to explain why he wanted to leave the case.

Jenkins’ sentencing on the convictions for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon was postponed until Feb. 19.

Koplof declined to comment on why he could not represent Jenkins at his robbery sentencing; but, in a telephone interview, Price said the conflict stems from the murder charges against Jenkins.

“I assume he declared a conflict because of the potentiality of Koplof being called as a witness either by the prosecution or defense as to when his client left the courthouse” on the day Williams was shot, Price said.

“A defense attorney should not have to put on the record why he is declaring a conflict because it might be based on a confidential communication and it could reveal some aspect of the defense.”