San Diegan Acquitted in Slaying, Attack on Police

Sagon Penn was acquitted today of manslaughter and attempted murder charges in a racially charged case stemming from the 1985 slaying of a police officer and the wounding of two other people.

The trial was the second for Penn, a black man who was acquitted last year of murder and attempted murder in the shootings, which took place during a fight with white police officers.

The shootings sparked heated criticism of the police department from black leaders and led to changes in the way the department deals with minorities.

The Superior Court jury found Penn, 25, innocent of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of police agent Thomas Riggs, 27, innocent of attempted voluntary manslaughter in the wounding of police Officer Donovan Jacobs, 31, and innocent of attempted murder in the wounding of civilian police observer Sarah Pina-Ruiz, 34.

The jury deadlocked on three less serious charges: Two counts of assault with a deadly weapon on Pina-Ruiz and Jacobs and the lesser included charge of involuntary manslaughter on Riggs.

Judge J. Morgan Lester asked jurors if further deliberations would help them resolve the deadlock on those charges. When jury foreman Howard McDowell answered that it would not, Lester declared a mistrial on those charges.

Morgan scheduled a hearing for Aug. 3 to determine what would be done with those charges.

San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor counseled calm for those angered by the second acquittal.

“Our judicial system is based upon the integrity of the jury process,” she said in a prepared statement released by her office. “I urge all citizens to respect the jury’s verdict.”

Said Police Chief Bill Kolender: “I wish that I had the power to soothe the awful pain of everyone who has been devastated by this incident and the tedious legal trials that have followed.”