Jurors Begin Deliberations in Ambush-Murder Trial

Daniel S. Jenkins, a black man charged with slaying a Los Angeles police detective, is innocent because several witnesses testified that the killer was white, his lawyer argued shortly before a Van Nuys jury began deliberating Thursday.

Jenkins, 33, is charged with one count each of murder and conspiracy in the Oct. 31, 1985, ambush of Detective Thomas C. Williams, who was gunned down as he picked up his 6-year-old son from a day-care center in Canoga Park. The boy was not injured.

Earlier that day, Williams had testified against Jenkins in a robbery trial.

Jenkins also is charged with the July 4, 1985, attempted murder of George Carpenter, a North Hollywood movie theater manager he was convicted of robbing in 1984. Carpenter was shot five times as he was eating dinner in a North Hollywood restaurant.

During closing arguments Thursday before Superior Court Judge Judith Meisels Ashmann, Howard R. Price, Jenkins’ attorney, said three youths testified during the five-month trial that they briefly glimpsed a white man driving away from the murder scene at a high speed.

Price said his client’s skin is too dark for him to pass as white, even if Jenkins wore white makeup, as prosecutors contend.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard L. Jenkins (no relation to the defendant) reminded the jury that an expert in memory and perception, who the defense had called to the stand, testified that it is difficult to see someone clearly in a moving vehicle at twilight.

The district attorney also said three witnesses testified that Jenkins had told them he had killed Williams.

“Daniel Jenkins was consumed, absolutely consumed, with a feeling of rage and a desire for retaliation” because Williams had testified against him, the prosecutor said.

Jenkins is being held without bail in County Jail. If he is convicted of the murder charge, Jenkins could be sentenced to death because prosecutors contend that he lay in wait in his car for Williams.

The jury is to continue its deliberations Monday.

Four others are charged as accomplices of Jenkins in Williams’ murder.