San Diego

On its eighth day of deliberations, the jury in the Sagon Penn murder trial asked that wounded Police Agent Donovan Jacobs’ revolver, which was wrestled away from him by Penn during a fracas last year, be unlocked in the jury room so jurors could apparently examine or try to pull the trigger.

“Please remove the trigger guard from people’s exhibit 5 (Jacobs’ gun) for the jury and remove from our room all live rounds for the .38 specials,” read the note from the San Diego Superior Court jury.

Judge William Todd granted their request and had a bailiff remove all of the ammunition from the room before he sent the unloaded gun back into the jury room. The jury made no request about slain Police Agent Thomas Riggs’ revolver.

The question indicated that jurors might try to pull the trigger of the weapon as an experiment. Defense attorney Milton Silverman had argued that the first shot to Jacobs’ neck was accidental and occurred after Riggs kicked the gun.

Penn is charged with murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Penn shot and killed Riggs, then wounded Jacobs and a civilian ride-along during a March 31, 1985, struggled in Encanto. Silverman has contended that Penn fired the gun in self-defense after the Southeast San Diego youth was stopped for no reason and then harassed and beaten by the two officers.

The jury went home at 4:15 p.m. and will return today for more deliberations.