Countywide : Man Convicted of Assaulting Officer

A 39-year-old Ventura man accused of aiming a gun at two California Highway Patrol officers was convicted Friday of assaulting one officer, but the jury deadlocked on whether the other was assaulted.

It was the second trial for Dennis D. Agdeppa in Ventura County Superior Court.

In March, a jury convicted Agdeppa of evading the officers, stealing a gun from one of them and exhibiting it while resisting arrest--charges that carry a maximum prison term of 7 1/2 years.

But jurors deadlocked on charges that Agdeppa used a deadly weapon to assault Officers George Orozco and Mark Rasmussen, leading to the retrial that ended Friday.

Investigators said Agdeppa failed to pull over for a CHP officer on California 150 between Ojai and Santa Paula. After a chase of several miles, he veered onto side roads and abandoned his car, investigators said.

Agdeppa grabbed Orozco’s weapon as the officer tried to handcuff him. He was then shot five times by Rasmussen and was seriously wounded in the leg, investigators said.

In the retrial, jurors deliberated more than two days before convicting Agdeppa of assaulting Orozco. But the panel split 9 to 3 for conviction on whether he assaulted Rasmussen.

The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in state prison, but Deputy Dist. Atty. Terry Kilbride said he wanted to see a probation report before deciding how long a sentence to request. He said he will definitely ask for a prison term.

Judge Allan L. Steele scheduled sentencing Dec. 15.

Agdeppa, a concrete mason who had been free on $25,000 bail during the trial, was taken into custody after the verdict. A bail review hearing was scheduled for Friday.

Defense attorney Louis Samonsky Jr. called the testimony of the officers more inconsistent during the second trial than in the first.

“I’m disappointed,” Samonsky said. “I don’t have an explanation.”