Attorney Blames ‘Chemical Changes’ for Traffic-Dispute Killing : Courts: Opening statement to jury by defense lawyer at murder trial calls Howard Barton’s shooting of Marco Sanchez ‘involuntary.’

A Pacific Beach businessman accused of shooting a National City man after a minor traffic dispute pulled the trigger of his gun because of “certain involuntary chemical changes” in his body, his defense lawyer said Wednesday.

Howard Barton never intended to shoot Marco Sanchez, said Barton’s defense attorney, Milt Silverman, during his two-hour opening statement at the beginning of Barton’s murder trial.

Barton, 48, is charged with slaying Sanchez, 24, after a traffic altercation involving Sanchez and Barton’s daughter, Andrea Barton, 21, on Feb. 22, 1990, in Pacific Beach.

Police said that Barton, who at the time had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, shot Sanchez once in the back as he sat in his parked car. Barton said he acted in self-defense when he thought Sanchez attempted to slash him with a knife.

However, numerous witnesses testified at Barton’s preliminary hearing that they did not see a weapon in Sanchez’s hand. Homicide investigators found a folded knife, a pair of scissors and several screw drivers near or under the front seat of Sanchez’s car.

After he was shot, Sanchez went out the passenger door and staggered down the sidewalk, falling mortally wounded in the doorway of a nearby dry cleaner. Police recovered a set of keys and a baseball cap near his body.

In her opening statement, which lasted about 15 minutes, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Chappell told jurors that Barton “shot Sanchez in the back as Sanchez scrambled to get out of his car.”

At the end of her brief remarks, Chappell cautioned jurors “to listen to the witnesses who were actually there.” She followed that plea with a warning about the sometimes flamboyant Silverman.

“Silverman is a charming guy and occasionally entertaining, but he’s not a witness,” she said.

Moments later, Silverman began his presentation with an anecdote about a telephone conversation between Barton and his daughter on the morning of the incident.

“Andrea Barton called about a bird. Yes, a bird named Pebbles,” said Silverman. “Pebbles was losing his feathers and this greatly concerned Andrea.”

According to Silverman, Barton asked his daughter to come by his realty office in Pacific Beach so he could give her money to buy special bird food. It was during Andrea Barton’s trip to her father’s office that events unfolded leading to Sanchez’s death.

Barton had no way of knowing that “within 35 minutes (of the conversation with his daughter) Sanchez would be dead and Barton would have shot him,” Silverman said.

Witnesses said the altercation between Sanchez and Andrea Barton began at Ingraham Street and Grand Avenue, when the young woman’s silver Pontiac Trans-Am stalled at the intersection. Sanchez “laid on the horn” but Andrea Barton succeeded in starting the car, said Silverman.

However, the car quickly stalled again and Andrea Barton and Sanchez exchanged obscenities, the attorney added. The two continued driving down Garnet Avenue exchanging insults and both cut in front of the other’s car, witnesses said.

Andrea Barton proceeded to her father’s office, “crying, trembling and extremely distraught,” said Silverman. Barton and his daughter went looking for Sanchez “to see who this guy is and what his story is,” he added.

Witnesses at the preliminary hearing said Howard Barton located Sanchez at Cal Stores on Garnet Avenue and confronted him. An argument ensued and Sanchez twice tried to walk away, but Barton continued to follow him, witnesses said.

Sanchez did not want to get involved in a confrontation that could have resulted in a police response because he had about $7,700 in outstanding traffic warrants, Chappell said Wednesday.

“He’s got traffic warrants hanging over his head and he sure doesn’t want any trouble. He doesn’t want the cops around,” said Chappell.

Silverman insisted that Barton did not arm himself before going after Sanchez. Barton routinely carried a small .38-caliber semi-automatic handgun in his right pants pocket for protection when depositing rent receipts, Silverman said.

Barton, who is free on $1-million bail, manages about 200 apartment units owned by his mother.

“Carrying a gun to work . . . had become second nature to Barton,” Silverman said. “ . . . He gave no thought to it. He wasn’t conscious it was in his pocket. He didn’t arm himself. It was just there.”

Prosecutor Chappell argued that Barton armed himself before confronting Sanchez. She told jurors that Barton was authorized to carry the gun only while conducting business.

Sanchez managed to walk away away from Barton and got inside his red Ford Fairmont. Silverman argued that Sanchez sat in the driver’s seat, got a knife from inside the car and lashed at Barton, who stood by the open driver’s door. Barton responded by pulling out his gun and ordered Sanchez to freeze, Silverman said.

Both Chappell and Silverman agreed that Barton threatened Sanchez with the warning “I’ll blow your head off” if he did not exit the car.

As Barton pointed the gun at Sanchez, he “described feeling like a coiled rattlesnake,” Silverman told the jury. It was then that Barton began to experience a “flight or fight reaction” accompanied or caused by “certain involuntary chemical changes” in Barton’s body.

In the instant when he was confronting Sanchez with the gun, Barton’s digestive system stopped digesting, Silverman said. Before shooting Sanchez, Barton “moved back, closed his eyes” then moved forward with his eyes still closed, and then the gun fired unexpectedly, Silverman added.

“It’s a purely involuntary reaction . . . when in a life-threatening situation,” Silverman said. “In essence, the human biological system is prepared to save its own life in a very, very short amount of time. What’s important is surviving the next few instants.”

The defense attorney told the jury that Barton perceived a sudden movement by Sanchez as a deadly threat. The alleged movement by Sanchez was so quick that the “brain and eyes were not capable of discriminating what the purpose of the movement of the person is,” argued Silverman.

“At this point in time when Barton fired the gun he didn’t intend to shoot Sanchez,” Silverman said.

In attempting to paint a favorable picture of his client before the jury, Silverman said that as a young man, Barton’s “idea of a good time was to raise hogs and cattle” when he lived near Carlsbad.

Trial will continue to today in Superior Court Judge William D. Mudd’s courtroom.