Jury Refuses to Indict Deputy in Fellow O.C. Officer’s Killing : Justice: Panel overrides recommendation of prosecutors, who sought charge of involuntary manslaughter on grounds of gross negligence. Decision raises outcry from minority groups.

The Orange County Grand Jury, rejecting the recommendation of local prosecutors, decided Thursday not to indict Sheriff’s Deputy Brian P. Scanlan in the Christmas Day shooting death of a fellow deputy during an impromptu training exercise gone awry.

The decision sparked an immediate outcry from minority groups that have lashed out at authorities for their handling of the case, which involves the death of a black deputy at the hands of a white fellow officer. But the head of the Orange County Deputy Sheriffs Assn. said he believed most officers will be “relieved” by the decision.

Prosecutors had recommended that Scanlan be indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges, because they saw his conduct as “not simply negligent, but . . . aggravated, reckless and grossly negligent,” according to a statement by Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi.

But Capizzi said prosecutors respected the “collective wisdom” of the grand jury in reaching its decision.

“I feel confident,” said Assistant Dist. Atty. John Conley, “that we can look anyone in the eye and know we presented this case fairly, and the grand jury simply decided not to indict.”

The grand jury made its decision after four days of closed hearings that began last week and included sworn testimony from 14 witnesses and the examination of 25 pieces of evidence that were offered by the district attorney’s office.

Scanlan, 32, a former Army private and a sheriff’s training officer who remains on paid leave from the department pending an internal investigation, declined to testify before the grand jury. But the panel did view a 90-minute, videotaped interview with Scanlan that was made by investigators on the day that he fatally shot Darryn Leroy Robins, 30.

With only rare exceptions, grand juries generally follow the recommendations of prosecutors who bring potential criminal cases before them. But Conley said the Scanlan case was “a close call” that could have gone either way.

“The issue in this case is a close one. Everyone agrees that Brian Scanlan didn’t handle this right by going up to the officer with a loaded weapon and the safety off,” Conley said. “What the grand jury apparently decided was that it may have been bad, but it wasn’t that bad.”

The shooting has had an emotional and far-reaching impact in the county, creating disbelief among cops in the street, prompting a review of safety procedures in the Sheriff’s Department and giving voice to a black political movement that had remained largely dormant in Orange County.

“I am not satisfied and I believe that many in the community will feel the same way,” said Eugene Wheeler, a health care administrator who heads a business and civic group called 100 Black Men of Orange County. “We got no official explanation as to what evidence (the grand jury) considered, so it’s hard for us to know.”

In the end, for all its volatility, the case came down to a technical reading of whether Scanlan’s fatal shooting of Robins constituted the “aggravated, reckless and grossly negligent” act that prosecutors saw, Conley said.

The grand jury decided it did not, but just how the panel interpreted the legal principles in the case may never be known. Seven members refused to talk about the case, most saying they had been instructed not to discuss the proceedings.

The only word from the jury was a one-sentence release, signed by foreman Frank V. Kroeger, that read: ‘The Orange County Grand Jury, in the Brian Patrick Scanlan hearing, has determined not to return an indictment on this matter.”

Prosecutors said that the grand jury proceedings in the case will not be released publicly, but that the district attorney’s office is considering the release of portions of its own files in the case--in part to help assuage lingering suspicions about what happened on Dec. 25.

“When you see (the evidence in) this case, you see it’s not a racial case, it’s not an intentional case and all the other stuff that people have been nervous about,” Conley said.

Robins was killed in a parking lot behind the Twin-Peaks Plaza movie theater in Lake Forest.

While many details of the shooting have slowly and gradually emerged in press accounts, authorities offered the official version of the mishap for the first time Thursday following the grand jury’s decision.

Conley said that Scanlan had been bothered by techniques used by California Highway Patrol officers in a felony car stop in which he had assisted earlier in the day. He and Robins then decided to run through some training techniques to aid a trainee riding with Scanlan, and they picked the parking lot as their locale after responding to a call for assistance at a nearby restaurant.

The trainee and another deputy waited around a corner while Scanlan and Robins prepared to run through the exercise. Robins played the part of a suspect in a car stop, while Scanlan approached the car, drew his loaded, 9-millimeter pistol and rested it on the roof of the car.

Trouble developed, Conley said, when Robins, supposedly reaching for his registration papers behind his car’s sun visor, instead produced a .25-caliber handgun--a maneuver used by Los Angeles gang members. He whipped the gun from its hiding place and thrust it out the window.

Robins was not authorized to carry a second gun on patrol, Conley said, and the visor maneuver had not been discussed before the exercise. “Reflexively, (Scanlan fired. It was a startled reaction,” he said.

The bullet hit Robins, who was just inches away from the gun’s muzzle, grazing his nose and descending through his mouth and lip before finally severing an artery in his neck, Conley said.

As Robins then staggered out the passenger door, Scanlan asked him if he was all right, Conley said. The victim’s only response was: “Hospital.” Scanlan himself rushed the victim to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Officials did not release the grand jury’s vote. Twelve of its 19 members would have had to vote for an indictment in order for Scanlan to face charges.

“We wanted to see if 19 citizens would agree with our evaluation,” Capizzi said in his statement. “The grand jury did not, and we respect their collective wisdom. . . . Our hearts go out to the families of both these deputy sheriffs. This is a tragic shooting that no one involved will ever forget.”

Capizzi referred all further questions on the case to Conley.

“I don’t think the grand jury is a patsy,” said Jerry A. Matney, 61, of Huntington Beach, who was picked to be a member of this grand jury but had to surrender his slot because of a back injury. “They pretty much will make their own decisions. They’re strong individuals. They have their own opinions. They’re intelligent. They’re not easily misled or misguided. I don’t think they would be led by the nose by the D.A. If there isn’t a case there, they won’t make one.”

It was the most controversial police-shooting case faced by the grand jury in a decade, and the last one of its magnitude ended with a similar result.

That came in 1983, when a Stanton police officer shot and killed a 5-year-old boy in the boy’s apartment after the officer saw a shadowy figure in the darkness and mistook him for an armed assailant. The boy was holding a toy gun.

As in the Robins shooting, prosecutors decided to bring the case before the grand jury to decide--a move that helped insulate the district attorney’s office from the ultimate decision. And as in the Robins shooting, the grand jury decided not to indict the officer.

Conley said that prosecutors could still decide to bring charges on their own in the Scanlan case if they “violently disagreed” with the grand jury’s decision, but that will not happen here. “This is the end of the case,” he said.

Both Scanlan and his attorney, James Stotler of Santa Ana, have refused to talk about the case in the past, and neither could be reached for comment Thursday.

Scanlan was placed on leave at the Sheriff’s Department immediately after the shooting, and Sheriff Brad Gates said in an interview that the department will now conduct its own internal review to determine what disciplinary action if any should be taken against him.

Even if the department allows Scanlan to return to work, Robert MacLeod, general manager of the deputies association, said that in the wake of the shooting’s emotional trauma, the key question now being asked by many of Scanlan’s colleagues is: “Is Brian able and does he wish to return to the department?”

Gates said that department officials have already completed a preliminary review of safety procedures as a result of the Robins shooting. That review found that current department policy “adequately” addresses issues of officer safety, but it did recommend a “reinforcement” of existing regulations for deputies.

“What we will do and are already doing now is to reinforce (safety procedures) during training and briefing sessions. There will be a constant reminder, and we will make sure that gets done,” Gates said.

* EARLIER CONTROVERSY: Grand jury was called insensitive to ethnic concerns. A23

How Shooting Occurred

The Christmas Day shooting of an Orange County sheriff’s deputy happened during an impromptu training session in a parking lot:

1. Sheriff’s Deputy Brian P. Scanlan approaches Deputy Darryn Robins’ vehicle; Scanlan takes his loaded 9-millimeter automatic pistol out of its holster, brings it to roof of vehicle and out of Robins’ view.

2. Robins hands Scanlan a mock driver’s license. Then, he reaches up to visor as if to retrieve his registration, but instead produces an unloaded .25-caliber automatic pistol and thrusts it at Scanlan.

3. Scanlan is startled, steps back and fires. Bullet hits Robins in the face, severing his carotid artery and killing him.

Source: Orange County District Attorney’s Office