Argues for Life Prison Term : Police Killer Fights Execution

Daniel Steven Jenkins told jurors Monday they will have to answer to God if they vote to execute him for the murder of an off-duty Los Angeles police detective three years ago.

“At the end of your . . . life journey, if you vote to execute me, when it comes time to meet your maker, what’s your closing argument going to be to Him?” Jenkins asked jurors during closing arguments in the penalty phase of his trial in Van Nuys Superior Court. Jenkins, 33, is acting as his own attorney during the penalty phase.

The jury, which on July 27 convicted Jenkins of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the Oct. 31, 1985, ambush killing of Detective Thomas C. Williams, must decide whether Jenkins should be put to death or sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

As a roomful of spectators, including Williams’ widow, looked on, Jenkins held up a large sign that said: “We kill people who kill people to show that it is wrong to kill people.” He argued that killing him would serve no purpose.

“We might as well burn arsonists,” he said. “We might as well cut the hands off of shoplifters.”

Jenkins said he is innocent and asked for a sentence of life in prison. He said he prays for Williams’ family.

Earlier Monday, a prosecutor urged jurors to vote for the death penalty, describing Jenkins as “a shell of a man because he has no conscience and no soul.”

Jenkins “has earned the right to die” because he has a history of violent retaliation against those who cross him, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Jenkins, who is not related to the defendant.

Daniel Jenkins originally wanted Williams killed to stop him from testifying at his trial on charges of robbing a North Hollywood theater manager, the prosecutor said, and faced a “dead-bang state prison sentence” if convicted.

“Williams represented the system that was going to destroy him and his life style” which featured a variety of fancy cars, women and “high living,” the prosecutor said.

After several unsuccessful attempts to kill Williams, the detective testified against Daniel Jenkins, who then killed Williams out of revenge.

Daniel Jenkins shot the 42-year-old officer eight times with an automatic machine pistol as he picked up his 6-year-old son from a church day-care center in Canoga Park. He risked the lives of three women and five children, including Williams’ son, Ryan, who were in the line of fire, the prosecutor said. “It’s lucky we didn’t have a massacre,” he said.

Daniel Jenkins’ alleged accomplice in Williams’ murder, Ruben A. (Tony) Moss, 26, was tried on the murder and conspiracy charges by a separate jury, which is still deliberating. Both cases are being tried before Judge Judith Meisels Ashmann.