Defendant in Beating a ‘Peacemaker,’ Lawyer Says

A former North Hollywood teacher charged with murder in a 1994 beating death was trying to be a peacemaker but could not hold off an angry mob determined to hurt the victim, a defense lawyer said Thursday.

Denneth Thaddeus Jackson, 27, whose trial began Thursday in Superior Court, faces charges of murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the beating death of Julio Aguilar on Nov. 12, 1994.

Authorities said the trial--which will include testimony about Aguilar and his brother allegedly being beaten with a pool cue, a baseball bat, a chunk of wood, feet and fists by attackers avenging a traffic accident--may last several weeks. Jackson is expected to testify, authorities said.

“The evidence will show that Mr. Jackson is a peacemaker,” his lawyer, Michael V. White, told the jury in his opening statement.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino, who is prosecuting the case, said Jackson was among a large group that showed no mercy in pulling the Aguilar brothers from their car. Both Julio, who was 23, and his brother, Jose, now 22, were severely injured in the attack, she said.

“They beat, they punched, they kicked and they used whatever they could get their hands on to beat these two people,” she said.

In recent weeks, six other defendants charged in the beatings agreed to plead no contest to voluntary manslaughter charges rather than face life in prison if convicted of murder. Each of those defendants, all in their late teens or early 20s, agreed to be sentenced to 11 years in state prison.

Jackson, who taught social studies at Madison Middle School before his arrest, was the only defendant to refuse the plea bargain.

Authorities said the Aguilar brothers and an uncle, who was not seriously hurt, were attacked outside Jackson’s Amigo Avenue apartment in Reseda a short time after Julio Aguilar--allegedly drunk--crashed into a parked truck.

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Authorities said the truck belonged to someone who was at a party at Jackson’s apartment. Julio Aguilar was arrested after the accident, but he was bailed out and returned to the scene that night with his brother and uncle, apparently to check the damage to the truck, authorities said.

The Aguilars were seen by someone at the party, and soon they were surrounded by 15 to 20 angry people, authorities said.

But White said Thursday that Jackson acted aggressively only to prevent more serious problems.

White said Jackson struck Jose Aguilar while trying to take a handgun away from him during the wild fracas outside Jackson’s apartment.

As Jackson struggled with Jose Aguilar and pulled him out of the Aguilars’ car, other guests at the party began to severely beat both brothers, White said.

Jose Aguilar “was pulled away from Mr. Jackson and engulfed by others,” White said. “It was literally a riot. . . . When the danger passed, Mr. Jackson no longer hit [Aguilar] or anyone else.”

Jackson tried to stop the beatings but was unable to do so, his lawyer said.

Jose Aguilar, who began testifying Thursday afternoon, contradicted some of White’s remarks.

Aguilar, who cried as he told of seeing his brother lying unconscious after the beating, said neither he nor his brother ever carried a gun or any other weapon. They went to check on the damage to the truck because Julio Aguilar knew he was responsible for it, but the brothers didn’t intend to fight with anyone, he said.

“I never thought he was going to die,” Jose Aguilar said.