San Diego
Jurors in the Sagon Penn police murder trial will resume deliberations today after spending the last week listening to the testimony of nine witnesses being read from court transcripts.
For the past month, the jury has been discussing charges of murder in the March 31, 1985, shooting death of San Diego Police Agent Thomas Riggs and attempted murder in the shootings of Agent Donovan Jacobs and Sarah Pina-Ruiz, a civilian ride-along who accompanied Riggs.
Meanwhile, the 4th District Court of Appeal will continue today to study a defense request to reopen testimony in the trial and introduce new evidence. On May 21, the Police Department turned over an eight-year-old transcript of Jacobs discussing a training exercise with his academy instructors that could potentially damage the prosecution’s case.
A police officer at the academy reportedly discovered the document eight or nine months ago, but did not hand it to police officials until May 20--the same day the jury convicted Penn of assault with a deadly weapon for running over Jacobs with a patrol car.
The partial verdict was later overturned when a jurors expressed second thoughts.
On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Ben W. Hamrick denied a motion by defense attorney Milton J. Silverman to halt deliberations and introduce the document to the jury.
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