Father Says He Shot Because Man Had a Knife : Murder trial: Howard Barton testifies that the man he killed after a traffic dispute with Barton’s daughter had repeatedly rejected his request to put down the weapon.

Howard Barton took the witness stand Friday at his murder trial and testified that he repeatedly ordered Marco Sanchez to put down a knife before shooting him once in the back, mortally wounding him.

Barton, 47, was charged with murder in the Feb. 22, 1990, incident that began when Sanchez, 24, became involved in a traffic dispute in Pacific Beach with Barton’s daughter, Andrea Barton. Minutes after the incident between Sanchez and Andrea Barton, the young woman drove to her father’s nearby real estate office.

Barton and his daughter jumped in Howard Barton’s pickup truck and went looking for Sanchez. The Bartons found Sanchez, a National City resident, inside a Cal Stores branch on Garnet Avenue. The three argued, and several witnesses have testified that Sanchez twice attempted to walk away from Howard Barton, who was described as the aggressor.

Sanchez managed to walk outside the store and enter his vehicle. Barton followed Sanchez and fired one shot, through an open driver’s door, hitting him in the back. Barton has insisted that he acted in self-defense, when Sanchez allegedly slashed at him with a knife.

“I said, ‘Freeze! Put the knife down. Put the knife on the ground.’ I told him again, ‘Put the knife down,’ ” Barton testified.

However, several prosecution witnesses testified that they never saw a weapon in Sanchez’s hand. Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Chappell said Sanchez was shot as he attempted to exit his car through the passenger door to get away from Barton.

Homicide investigators found a folded knife, pair of scissors and screwdrivers under and near the driver’s seat.

In testimony Friday, Barton said he told Sanchez to stay in the car and wait for police. Andrea Barton, 21, testified that she went back inside the sporting goods store and asked employees to call police. She testified that Sanchez tried twice to run her off the road and spit on her car as they drove along Grand Avenue.

Under questioning by defense attorney Milt Silverman, Howard Barton said he pulled the gun out of his pants pocket in response to the knife threat from Sanchez. Barton had a permit from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department to carry a concealed weapon.

“I saw movement coming toward me. I remember backing off. I think that’s when the gun went off,” Barton said.

He told Silverman that he did not intend to kill Sanchez and said he is “the most sorry person in the world” about Sanchez’s death.

The trial will continue Monday with questioning of Barton by prosecutor Chappell.