Fence Owner Convicted of Costing Inspector an Eye

A Northridge man was convicted Tuesday of putting out the eye of a city building inspector who had told him his fence was too tall.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Meredith Taylor ordered Samuel D. Duran, a 41-year-old auto mechanic, held without bail in County Jail pending his sentencing April 20. Duran could receive seven years in state prison for the May 11 attack on Calvin W. O’Daniels, who lost an eye.

“We don’t run into that many people who cause us the kind of trouble Mr. Duran did, but I hope this verdict will send a message to the ones that do,” said Jim Anderson, head of the San Fernando Valley investigations division of the Los Angeles City Department of Building and Safety.

The fence at Duran’s home in the 19000 block of Community Street still has not been lowered, Anderson said.

Duran was cited after neighbors complained that a cement-block section of the fence was unsafe because it exceeded the city’s 3 1/2-foot height limit by about three feet, authorities said. Motorists pulling out of Duran’s driveway do not have a clear view of pedestrians, authorities said.

Radios Requested

The attack prompted the department to request money for emergency radios for investigators, Anderson said.

The six-man, six-woman jury deliberated for a day and a half before convicting Duran of one count each of mayhem and assault with a force likely to produce great bodily injury.

During the two-week trial, O’Daniels, 62, testified that, when he went to Duran’s home, he saw a sign on the front gate saying, “Never mind the dog. Beware of the owner.”

He testified that, after he told Duran the fence would have to be lowered, Duran attacked him and “just kept pounding” his face. He testified that Duran knocked him down, hit him with a shoe that had fallen off his foot and ripped to shreds a folder he was carrying.

Bits and pieces of the folder and O’Daniels’ smashed eyeglasses were found in the street outside Duran’s home, authorities said.

But Duran told a different story. He testified that the incident occurred in his kitchen after O’Daniels broke in and demanded a $2,500 bribe. Duran testified that O’Daniels attacked him when he refused to pay. He said O’Daniels’ eye injury occurred when the investigator fell, striking his face against a wall. He could not explain how the folder and glasses ended up outside.

Juror Peter Izzo of Granada Hills said Duran’s testimony conflicted with evidence, including testimony by David Aizuss, an ophthalmologist, who said that O’Daniels’ injuries could not have been caused by a fall.

Aizuss testified that O’Daniels’ right eye had to be surgically removed because it was ruptured by at least four deep gashes inflicted by blows with an object.