Detective’s Alleged Killer Made Suicide Vow, Witness Says

A man charged with killing a Los Angeles police detective vowed to commit suicide during his trial for robbery in 1985 rather than go to prison, a former employee of the defendant testified Tuesday.

Daniel S. Jenkins is accused of gunning down Thomas C. Williams on Oct. 31, 1985, hours after the detective testified against him at his robbery trial. Police have called the slaying an act of vengeance.

Jenkins had asked two men to kill Williams, but they refused and Jenkins finally did the job himself, authorities allege.

Jenkins, 32, and Ruben A. (Tony) Moss, 26, are on trial for murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Williams’ slaying.

Jeffrey Bryant, a prosecution witness, testified Tuesday that he accompanied Jenkins, who owned the limousine service he worked for, to a Huntington Park shopping center in 1985 to buy $50 or $75 worth of “bluish, yellowish pills.”

Cyanide Pills

Bryant, 25, who received a reduced sentence in an unrelated robbery case in exchange for his testimony, said the pills were either cyanide or iodine.

“He was going to have it hidden in his shoe, and he was going to take it in court in front of everybody,” Bryant said. “He said after he took the pills he would say, ‘Y’all can’t convict a dead man. I’m dead. I’m gone.’ ”

Jenkins was convicted Nov. 1, 1985, of the 1984 robbery of North Hollywood theater manager George Carpenter and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Bryant said Jenkins told him that he bought the pills because he didn’t want to go to jail. “I guess he didn’t want to jeopardize everything he had,” Bryant said.

A defense attorney, speculating on prosecutors’ motives in calling Bryant, said if jurors can be convinced that Jenkins was desperate enough to commit suicide, they might believe he was capable of killing Williams.

Jenkins’ attorney, Howard R. Price, also said jurors might be more inclined to recommend the death penalty if they believe his client considered suicide. Jenkins and Moss could be sentenced to death if convicted. Outside the courtroom, Price said the pills were pain killers that his client used because of a leg injury.