Grand Jury Won’t Indict Deputy in Colleague’s Death : Law enforcement: Prosecutors had sought manslaughter charges in shooting of a black officer during an exercise. Decision angers minority groups.

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

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 believes 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 Assistant Dist. Atty. John Conley said of the grand jury’s decision: “I feel confident 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 offered by the district attorney’s office.

Scanlan, 32, a Sheriff’s Department training officer who remains on leave from the department, declined to testify before the grand jury. But the panel did view a 90-minute videotaped interview with Scanlan made by investigators on the day that he fatally shot Darryn Leroy Robins, 30.

With 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.

“What the grand jury apparently decided was that it may have been bad, but it wasn’t that bad,” Conley said.

The shooting has prompted a review of Sheriff’s Department safety procedures and rankled minority groups.

“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.”

Just how the grand jury interpreted the legal principles in the case may never be known, since members contacted said they had been ordered not to discuss their deliberations.

Robins was killed in a parking lot behind a Lake Forest movie theater. Although many details of the shooting have slowly and gradually emerged in news accounts, authorities offered the official version of the incident for the first time Thursday.

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.

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 while Scanlan approached the car, drew his loaded 9-millimeter pistol and rested it on the vehicle’s roof.

Trouble developed, Conley said, when Robins, supposedly reaching for his registration papers behind a visor, instead produced a .25-caliber automatic handgun 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,” Conley said. “It was a startled reaction.” The bullet severed an artery in Robins’ neck.