Deputy D.A. Feels He Could Win a 2nd Penn Trial

The prosecutor in the Sagon Penn police murder trial said Monday he thought he could persuade a new jury to convict Penn in connection with the killing of a police officer and the shooting of another.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Carpenter said he is urging Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller to try Penn for a second time on charges on which the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Penn was acquitted last week on charges of murder and attempted murder.

Miller is expected to reach a decision this week, according to spokesman Steve Casey.

Carpenter said he was “extremely surprised” that the jury failed to convict Penn of any charges after initially finding him guilty of assault with a deadly weapon for driving a police vehicle over San Diego Police Agent Donovan Jacobs.

“The first verdict that came in was 12-0 in our favor,” Carpenter said. “Then we end up with absolutely nothing a month later. It’s curious. You just think that there is the possibility or probability of convincing another jury.”

Carpenter said the district attorney’s office still has lots of questions over why jurors changed their minds.

Juror Vernell Hardy, who was responsible for the setting aside of the guilty verdict when she told Superior Court Judge Ben W. Hamrick that she had second thoughts, said in an interview last week the jury did not understand the assault charge. Once Hamrick explained that the jury, to convict Penn on the charge, had to find that Penn intended to run over Jacobs, Hardy said, the jury voted 8-4 to acquit Penn.

Jacobs said Monday he is bitter that Penn was cleared of murder in the March 31, 1985, shooting death of Agent Thomas Riggs and attempted murder for shooting Jacobs. The jury was deadlocked 11-1 for acquittal on the charge of attempted murder in the shooting of Sarah Pina-Ruiz, a civilian who was accompanying Riggs in his patrol car as part of a ride-along program.

“He’s guilty as sin and should be punished,” Jacobs said in an interview with The Tribune. “In a nutshell, the jury has said it is OK to murder a police officer. That just can’t be the last word. It just can’t.”

Jacobs added, “I believe that whatever meager justice can be obtained now should be for Tom’s sake and the rest of the police force.”

Numerous defense witnesses testified that Jacobs provoked Penn by striking him repeatedly and using racial slurs. The jury was deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquitting Penn of voluntary manslaughter against Riggs and attempted voluntary manslaughter against Jacobs.

Penn was released on $25,000 bail Thursday after spending 15 months in jail. On Friday, Superior Court Judge Richard Huffman set Aug. 25 to try Penn on the undecided charges.

The Sagon Penn Legal Defense Committee has scheduled a press conference today to call for the district attorney’s office to drop all charges in the case.

“We think it’s ridiculous there should have to be a second trial,” said Reiko Obata, a spokeswoman for the Penn Defense Committee. “It’s a question of what will make them look better. We think either way they will look bad . . .

“(A second trial) would be a big hassle for poor Sagon, a waste of taxpayer’s money and a waste of time.”

The first Penn trial, which lasted four months, cost close to $1 million, according to estimates provided by the defense.

Carpenter said he believes that the cost of a new trial is not a valid consideration when deciding whether to retry Penn.

“What we get paid to do is prosecute these cases,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter said he would not do anything differently if he were assigned to prosecute Penn a second time.

“I was very pleased with the case,” Carpenter said. “It’s perplexing that it came back this way. I don’t think my judgment in analyzing cases is that bad.”