Judge Rejects Dueling Allegation

A San Diego County prosecutor failed to convince a judge this week that a Navy petty officer who shot a former friend to death should be tried on the rare felony charge of dueling.

Municipal Judge Patricia A. Y. Cowett said there was insufficient evidence to show that the fatal July 12 altercation between the defendant, Vernon Isip, 39, and Bayani (Boy) Zuniga, 42, had occurred by previous agreement--part of the legal definition of dueling.

She also found that Isip, who was wounded but survived the gunfight, appeared to have tried to withdraw from the battle before it began.

“To me, that’s the fatal flaw,” Cowett said, explaining her decision not to send the case to trial in Superior Court. Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to charge Isip with another crime, such as assault or murder. At a preliminary hearing this week, witnesses testified that the two men had been arguing about Zuniga’s repeating rumors that Isip was having an affair with a mutual woman friend--a romance that Isip denied.