San Diego

Police photographs re-creating the scene of a shooting that left one officer dead and another wounded in March, 1985, were altered to favor the prosecution, Sagon Penn’s attorney charged in court Tuesday.

The pictures were taken at sundown April 9, 1986, to try to determine what Penn saw when he shot into the front windshield of a police car and wounded an unarmed civilian ride-along, San Diego Police Detective Lawrence Lindstrom testified. Penn wounded Sarah Pina-Ruiz moments after he fatally shot Police Agent Thomas Riggs and wounded Agent Donovan Jacobs in March, 1986.

Penn’s defense attorney contends that the incident escalated when Jacobs used racial slurs and excessive force against Penn after Penn refused Jacobs’ request to remove his driver’s license from his wallet.

Penn, 25, is being retried on charges of manslaughter, attempted murder, attempted manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon. Jurors in his first trial deadlocked on those charges after acquitting Penn of murder and attempted murder.

Penn told investigators that he shot into the car--and at Pina-Ruiz--because he thought she was another police officer who was going to shoot him. Penn said he could not tell Pina-Ruiz was a civilian because of the reflection on the car window.

Under questioning from defense attorney Milton Silverman, Lindstrom admitted that enlargements of the 3-by-5-inch originals appeared to have been darkened.

“What would you say about someone from the San Diego Police Department giving instructions to the photo lab to darken the enlargements?” Silverman asked.

“It would depend on the reason for the request,” Lindstrom replied. “If it was to give a false impression, then it would be wrong. If it was to clarify some detail in the photograph with everything else being the same, then it probably would be all right.”