Suspect in Sylmar Slaying Knew Victim Was Officer, Document Says

One of two teen-agers charged with murdering a plainclothes policeman in Sylmar last week has confessed that he and his companion came to the San Fernando Valley to sell drugs, and that he was aware that the man fatally shot was a police officer, according to a court document released Tuesday.

The statements allegedly were made by Thomas Lee Mixon, 19, of South-Central Los Angeles, who pleaded not guilty Tuesday in San Fernando Municipal Court to a murder charge and felony charges of assault, conspiracy to sell drugs and selling cocaine.

Police believe the other suspect, a 17-year-old who has not been identified, fired the shots that killed Officer James H. Pagliotti, who was investigating drug dealing in the Sylmar Square area.

According to a two-page statement contained in documents filed in Los Angeles Municipal Court, Mixon told police that he and the 17-year-old went to Sylmar in a rented car to sell cocaine June 22 “because there is no money to be made in our neighborhood.” Mixon said he and his companion are members of the Bloods gang and that his friend always carries a gun “when we sell dope,” according to the statement.

Mixon allegedly told investigators that, after selling some rock cocaine, he was standing on a lawn when a car pulled up.

“I knew it was the police because he said ‘police . . . .’ ” The 17-year-old “had his gun out and starting shooting--they were both shooting automatics. . . . I was waving my hands because they said ‘police,’ and I was trying to put my hands up. I got shot and went down on the grass,” the statement says.

Handcuffed on Sidewalk

“I was handcuffed on the sidewalk after I was dragged from under the tree.”

Mixon was wounded in the left shoulder when Pagliotti, who was in street clothes, returned the 17-year-old’s gunfire as the pair emerged from behind a shrub near Astoria Street and Bromont Avenue, police said. The 17-year-old was shot in the upper body.

Robert D. Rentzer, Mixon’s attorney, said he will try to have the statement, which Mixon signed the night he was arrested, excluded from any court proceedings

“Anything they gave him for the pain could have clouded his mind and affected his ability to waive his rights,” Rentzer said.

But homicide detectives said in a court affidavit that Mixon was alert and did not appear to be sedated.

The 17-year-old, who has also been charged with murder, is recovering in the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mitchel J. Harris said. Arraignment is set for July 15 in Eastlake Juvenile Court.

Disputes Theory

In an interview, Rentzer disputed the prosecution’s theory that Mixon had entered into a conspiracy with the 17-year-old, and is therefore guilty of murder even if his companion did the shooting. “The issue is whether there was a conspiracy to sell drugs, and, if so, whether that conspiracy had terminated at the time of the shooting,” the defense attorney said.

Rentzer said Mixon may testify against his companion.

He said he was hired by Mixon’s parents, Willie Taylor and Annie Crenshaw. The couple are planning to pay his fees by holding a fund-raiser in South-Central Los Angeles, he said.

“His mother knows he is not an angel, but he’s not a murderer and has nothing to do with guns,” Rentzer said.

Mixon was ordered by Commissioner Charles L. Peven to appear for a preliminary hearing Aug. 25. He is being held without bail at County Jail.