Tape of Penn’s Statement to Police Played in Retrial

Jurors in the retrial of Sagon Penn on Tuesday heard a tape recording of Penn’s spontaneous statements to police after his arrest in the March 31, 1985, slaying of a police officer and the wounding of another officer and a civilian.

On the tape, barred as evidence in Penn’s first trial a year ago, Penn says that he seized Police Agent Donovan Jacobs’ revolver during a scuffle with Jacobs and Police Agent Thomas Riggs because he feared for his life.

“I couldn’t understand what was going on,” Penn said on the tape. “(Jacobs) was grabbin’ me real hard, trying to choke me . . . He hit me in the face. I was getting tortured and tortured.”

Penn Version

Penn, who is did not take the stand in his first trial, said on the tape that the .38-caliber revolver went off when Riggs kicked his arm. The 25-year-old Southeast San Diego man then shot Jacobs and fired two shots at civilian Sarah Pina-Ruiz, who was riding as an observer in Riggs’ patrol car that day.

“I was tryin’ to protect my life,” Penn said on the tape.

Riggs died as a result of his three gunshot wounds. Pina-Ruiz suffered moderate injuries, and Jacobs’ left arm remains partially paralyzed from the incident.

Penn, 25, was acquitted in June of murder and attempted murder in the death of Riggs and wounding of Jacobs. He is being retried on five charges on which the first jury deadlocked. The retrial is in its fourth week.

On the tape, police ask no questions of Penn, who surrendered at the downtown San Diego police station 15 minutes after the Encanto shootings.

Penn said the altercation began when Jacobs refused to look into his wallet for his driver’s license and “started grabbing me at the shoulder.”

“He told me to shut up. He started coming at me full blast,” said Penn, adding that he started blocking blows from Jacobs’ baton and told the officer, “Wow, you don’t have to do that.”

During the altercation in a dirt driveway on Brooklyn Avenue, Penn said he repeatedly pleaded with the officers not to hurt him: “I was scared to death.”

Penn also stated that Jacobs “said a whole bunch of negative things to me. I couldn’t understand why he was being so mean to me.”

Witnesses’ Testimony

That statement is consistent with the testimony of numerous witnesses, who recalled in the first trial that Jacobs used racial slurs as he pummeled Penn with his fists and baton.

Also on Tuesday, a witness testified that she heard Penn remark that he “felt something coming up inside me” before firing the shots.

Testifying as the ninth witness in the retrial, Linda Beattie said she was visiting with her boyfriend in the police station when Penn and his grandfather arrived after the shootings.

“He said he warned them and said, ‘I felt something coming up inside of me’ and then they were shot,” Beattie testified.