Asst. Chief Liable for Punitive Damages : Police: Judge refuses to dismiss claim by political activist Zinzun, who already has won $3.8 million in compensatory damages over release of data during campaign.

Deputy Police Chief Robert Vernon can be ordered to pay punitive damages to a former political candidate who claimed that Vernon’s actions portrayed him as a terrorist, a judge ruled Monday.

Superior Court Judge Michael Berg rejected a motion to dismiss a punitive damages claim against Vernon by Michael Zinzun, a former Black Panther Party member and candidate for the Pasadena Board of Directors, now the City Council.

The case stemmed from Vernon’s release of information on Zinzun while Zinzun was running for the board in 1989. Zinzun filed suit claiming that Vernon’s actions created the public impression that Zinzun was a terrorist.

A jury agreed and on Friday ordered Vernon and the City of Los Angeles to pay $3.83 million in compensatory damages. The city must pay the entire award.

The jury began deliberations Monday on whether to award Zinzun punitive damages.

Berg rejected a motion by Deputy City Atty. Mary House to dismiss the punitive damages claim against Vernon. House argued that evidence presented at trial did not support punitive damages.

But Zinzun’s attorney, Dan Stormer, argued that the jury verdict supported punitive damages.

“They’ve come to the conclusion that they don’t believe Chief Vernon,” Stormer said.

At trial, Vernon testified that in 1989 he retrieved newspaper articles on Zinzun by using a Police Department computer terminal to tap into a commercial database. He said he gave the material to Pasadena City Director John Crowley.

Soon thereafter, local newspapers reported that Vernon had obtained information on Zinzun from files at the Police Department’s Anti-Terrorist Division. Zinzun, who lost the election campaign, claimed he was defamed by the implication that he was a terrorist.