Array of Options Faces Penn Jurors : Panel Begins Its Deliberations in Police Shooting Case

Faced with the choice of 22 possible verdicts ranging from first-degree murder to acquittal on six criminal charges, jurors continue deliberations today in the murder trial of Sagon Penn.

On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Ben W. Hamrick spent 90 minutes reading legal instructions to the 12 jurors before they met to elect a foreman and discuss the three-month-old trial.

“I’m very happy with the way the evidence came out,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Carpenter said. “I think the verdict should please the community, whatever it is.”

Penn is charged with murder in the shooting death of San Diego Police Agent Thomas Riggs and attempted murder in the shooting of Agent Donovan Jacobs and Sarah Pina-Ruiz, a civilian ride-along who accompanied Riggs. Penn faces a third attempted murder charge for driving a police car over Jacobs as he fled the Encanto driveway where the shootings took place.

The March 31, 1985, shootings have heightened racial tensions in Southeast San Diego and strained police relations within the black community. The altercation began when police mistook Penn for a street-gang member and attempted to restrain him by using night sticks.

Penn also is charged with two counts of theft for leaving the scene with Riggs’ loaded revolver and Jacobs’ patrol car.

If convicted on all counts, Penn could be sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. The district attorney’s office chose not to pursue the death penalty in the case, a decision that angered San Diego Police Chief Bill Kolender.

In the shooting death of Riggs, jurors have a choice of either finding Penn not guilty or convicting him of one of the following--first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter. On the attempted murder counts, the jury may find Penn guilty of lesser offenses such as attempted voluntary manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon or, in the Jacobs shooting, resisting arrest.

To convict Penn, jurors must unanimously agree that the prosecution proved his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, Hamrick said. If all 12 jurors cannot agree on a verdict, their deliberations will end in a hung jury. Both attorneys stressed that the community needs a verdict in the case.

During final arguments this week, Carpenter urged jurors to convict Penn of first-degree murder because he resisted officers and had no reason to shoot. The prosecutor said that Penn shot the officers without warning because he did not want to get arrested.

Defense attorney Milton Silverman argued that Jacobs provoked Penn by beating him repeatedly and shouting racial slurs. Penn reacted in self-defense when he believed he was going to die, Silverman said.

“I don’t think any reasonable person hearing the evidence that you have heard here should be spending very much time talking about the concept of murder,” Silverman said.

As the jurors filed out of the courtroom Thursday to begin their deliberations, Silverman said, Penn thanked the defense attorney for taking the case. Penn said, “I love you, Milt.”

Penn, who sat expressionless throughout the lengthy trial, did not testify in the case. Hamrick instructed jurors on Thursday not to discuss or draw any conclusions based on Penn’s decision not to take the witness stand.

The jurors elected Douglas Bernd, 38, one of three postal workers on the jury, to be their foreman. The father of two young children, Bernd has lived in San Diego since age 9. At the start of the trial, Bernd indicated that he is a Los Angeles Raiders fan and owns two shotguns and a pistol.

Casually attired--some in blue jeans or shorts and tennis shoes--the jurors were led to the cramped jury room where they will spend six hours each weekday in deliberations until they reach a decision.

Following is a summary of some of the choices confronting jurors in deciding Penn’s fate.

To convict Penn of first-degree murder, jurors must find that Riggs’ death was a deliberate, premeditated killing and that Penn acted with malice, which Silverman described as “in cold blood.” Hamrick described first-degree murder, which carries a 25-year-to-life sentence, as “a cold, calculated judgment.”

During his closing statement, Carpenter argued for a first-degree murder conviction by saying that Penn was determined to avoid being arrested.

“Sagon Penn has got the gun and is warning them,” the prosecutor said. “He’s not acting in self-defense. . . . Clearly there was intent to shoot and kill . . . Deliberate. Premeditated. To avoid jail. To avoid the shame.”

Silverman provided the jury with a different scenario.

“Even if you have all of the elements of first-degree murder . . . premediation, deliberation, malice, intent to kill . . . if you’re acting in self-defense, your action would be deemed lawful,” he said.

Once Jacobs climbed on top of Penn, Penn reacted by grabbing the officer’s gun and shooting him once in the neck. Penn then turned and shot Riggs three times, killing him with the third bullet. Before he fled, Penn shot Pina-Ruiz twice as she ducked in the front seat of Riggs’ patrol car.

If jurors reject first-degree murder, Hamrick suggested that they consider other charges in descending order until they unanimously agree on a verdict.

Second-degree murder does not include a deliberate or premeditated act. Penn would face 15 years to life if convicted of second-degree murder.

Next is manslaughter, which Silverman referred to as a “heat of passion” type of killing. Manslaughter is defined as an unjustified killing without malice. Voluntary manslaughter includes a specific intent to kill, whereas involuntary manslaughter is an unlawful killing without malice, intent or justifiable self-defense.

To find self-defense, jurors must agree that Penn believed he had to kill Riggs in order to save himself from death or serious injury. The fear of death or great bodily harm must be reasonable, however.

“Even if you find that he had the right to self-defense, certainly the means used was not reasonable under the circumstances,” Carpenter said. “Not for Jacobs and especially not for Tom Riggs and Sarah Pina-Ruiz. There’s no right. It doesn’t extend that far under this law and this evidence.”

Silverman suggested that jurors begin their deliberations by considering the notion that Penn, fearing for his life, acted in self-defense when he shot the two officers and Pina-Ruiz. He reminded the jurors that homicide is justifiable when a person responds to a perceived threat, not just an actual threat.

“If you find that, that is it,” Silverman said. “No murder. No manslaughter.”

To convict Penn of the attempted murder charges, jurors must conclude that he intended to kill Pina-Ruiz and Jacobs with malice. An attempted murder conviction carries a maximum nine-year sentence.

If they do not agree on attempted murder, jurors may choose among lesser offenses such as attempted voluntary manslaughter or assault with a deadly weapon, and resisting arrest in the Jacobs shooting.

After he shot Pina-Ruiz, Penn dropped Jacobs’ weapon and took Riggs’ gun as the officer lay wounded on the ground. Penn then jumped in Jacobs’ police vehicle and fled, running over Jacobs as he drove away.

To convict Penn on the grand theft charge, jurors must find that he intended to permanently keep Riggs’ revolver.

In the case of auto theft, Penn is considered guilty if he intended to take Jacobs’ patrol car “permanently or temporarily,” Hamrick said.

Penn turned himself in to police less than an hour after the shootings, leaving the gun and police car in front of his grandfather’s house.