Penn Trial Delayed Over Motion on Querying Police

The trial of accused killer Sagon Penn was delayed Friday for study of a defense request to question police officials on enforcement procedures against black gang members in Southeast San Diego.

Justice Howard Wiener, acting presiding judge of the 4th District Court of Appeal, stayed the trial until the judges rule on the appeal by defense attorney Milton Silverman. The appeal court is expected to take as long as two weeks to reach a decision. Penn’s trial was scheduled to begin Monday with a Superior Court judge being assigned to hear the case.

Silverman has alleged in court papers that Police Officer Donovan Jacobs kept illegal dossiers on blacks he had targeted for arrest while working in the San Diego Police Department’s Southeast substation. But Silverman’s requests to force Police Chief Bill Kolender and Officer Jim Stevens, Jacobs’ close friend, to testify in pretrial hearings were denied last month by Superior Court Judge Kenneth A. Johns.

Johns had rejected the requests on the grounds that Silverman had failed to substantiate the allegations during three days of hearings.

Penn, a black, is charged with murder in the March 31 shooting death of Officer Thomas Riggs and attempted murder in the shootings of Jacobs and Sara Pina-Ruiz, a civilian who was riding with Riggs under the police ride-along program.

At noon today, the Sagon Penn Legal Defense Committee will hold a rally at Lincoln High School’s athletic field. The featured speaker will be Vernon Bellencourt, national leader and co-founder of the American Indian Movement.

Silverman said a favorable ruling by the Court of Appeal would be crucial to his defense case.

“Basically, the information will assist me in learning . . . what are the actions and motivations of (police), why Penn was stopped, what were the officers’ intent when they approached him, and what were the officers’ attitude toward Penn, gang members and black people generally,” Silverman said.

Silverman has charged in court that Jacobs and a fellow officer had stopped, detained and photographed as many as 500 young black men whom they suspected of being gang members.

In court hearings, Jacobs admitted that he kept a file on suspected black gang members, a practice the former head of the Police Department’s gang detail testified was not authorized.

Prosecutors have argued that, since Jacobs has already testified about his contact with gang members and photos, any information provided by Stevens or other officers is not relevant to the events leading up to the March 31 shootings.

Penn’s truck was stopped by Jacobs, who told police investigators he was searching for an armed gang member. The two scuffled after Penn refused to hand over his driver’s license. Witnesses have said that the officers used racial slurs while attempting to apprehend Penn.

Penn took Jacobs’ .38-caliber revolver from its holster and wounded Jacobs in the neck, witnesses told police. Penn is also accused of fatally shooting Riggs and firing two shots through a car window at the unarmed Pina-Ruiz.