San Diego

A prosecutor told a jury Wednesday that the murder case against Roger Sing Ip is about Ip “getting even with three teen-agers.”

Ip, 34, of Spring Valley, went on trial Wednesday for the second time in the July 10, 1989, fatal shooting of Kurt Von Yokes, 15, following a traffic dispute in Pacific Beach.

Last year a jury acquitted Ip of first-degree murder, but deadlocked on second-degree murder, and a mistrial was declared.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregg McClain told jurors that Ip shot Yokes to “get even” after a near-collision between both cars and remarks yelled by the teen-agers.

Defense attorney Michael Popkins sharply disagreed, telling jurors that it “is not a case of getting even,” but of “an accidental discharge of a firearm.”

Popkins said the driver made an obscene gesture toward Ip after the cars narrowly missed each other and a passenger yelled out racially offensive remarks to Ip, who is Chinese.

Popkins conceded that Ip followed the teen-agers’ car, but said his purpose was “to talk to these disrespectful teen-agers.”

Popkins said Ip grew afraid after following their car when a large man moved toward his car.

Ip’s Isuzu Trooper lurched forward as he tried to leave, causing the gun he carried with him to discharge, Popkins said.

At the time, Ip was the co-owner of a Chinese restaurant in Pacific Beach and carried a gun with him because he deposited the restaurant’s receipts each night.