Widow of Slain Oxnard Officer Plans to Sue City

The widow of slain Oxnard Police Officer James Rex Jensen Jr. has notified the city that she intends to sue over the shooting death of her husband, killed March 13 by a fellow officer in a botched drug raid.

Jennifer Jensen insisted after the shooting that no one was to blame. Her lawyer now says the department and Jensen’s partner are at fault, contradicting official accounts that indicate the officer’s actions contributed to his own death.

Police said Jensen unexpectedly left his position in a bedroom during the chaotic drug raid, surprising his partner and mentor Sgt. Dan Christian in a smoke-filled hallway. Christian mistook him for a gun-wielding suspect and shot the officer three times in the side of his chest.

It didn’t happen that way, said Los Angeles lawyer Edward Steinbrecher. “He was shot three times in the back while he was still in the bedroom.”

Steinbrecher on Monday submitted a wrongful death claim, the first step in filing suit against the city.

In the days following her husband’s death, Jennifer Jensen expressed only forgiveness, saying in an interview with The Times that “there is no blame.”

The Jensens were married for seven years and have two daughters, ages 3 and 6. The pair went through a difficult time in 1995, with Jennifer Jensen filing for divorce, but they reconciled three months before the shooting.

During her husband’s funeral, Jennifer Jensen made a point of showing that she bore no ill will toward Christian, who physically supported her and held her hand during the emotional ceremony.

“Dan and I are in this together,” she said later. “There will be a very special bond between us for the rest of our lives.”

However, Steinbrecher said that Jensen’s widow made those statements without knowing the facts of the shooting.

“She was talking from an emotional level,” he said. “She was ready to forgive those who made the mistakes, but now it’s time for justice. She wasn’t in the position to be able to judge facts, because she didn’t know the facts. That’s up to a jury to decide.”

Jennifer Jensen remains close to Sgt. Christian and his wife, Steinbrecher said, although the lawsuit may create a rift in the friendship. She could not be reached Monday for comment.

“I don’t know if it’s awkward for her,” Steinbrecher said, adding that the issue could not be avoided. “He is responsible. He did shoot her husband and kill him.”

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Since the shooting, the department has conducted an internal investigation--even staging a reenactment of the incident.

In an interview last week, the department’s Special Weapons and Tactics leader Cmdr. John Crombach said the SWAT team has gone over its tactics and training and reviewed how it staged the incident in minute detail.

Crombach said the review showed that the team had a “good solid plan.” He said he was still unable to say exactly what went wrong.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about it,” Crombach said. “It’s clear that something went sideways. I just don’t think we can say what that was at this time.”

The raid, on a condominium in a residential neighborhood near the Port Hueneme Navy base, was part of a drug sweep of 16 homes and businesses in five cities that concluded a two-year investigation.

According to police reports of the incident, Jensen seemed to have made the mistake that led to his death.

Shortly after throwing a “flash-bang” diversionary grenade in the hallway of the condominium, Jensen reportedly rushed upstairs ahead of his team and into a bedroom. Then--against standard tactics that call for officers to “take and hold” their positions--Jensen stepped out of the room and into the hallway.

Although only a few feet away, Christian could not identify his partner through the smoke and mistook him for an armed suspect.

But attorney Steinbrecher said Jensen did everything by the book and did not come out of the bedroom.

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At work on Monday, Sgt. Christian said he could not comment on the matter.

Both Oxnard Police Department officials and Steinbrecher said they were anxiously awaiting a detailed investigation now being conducted by the district attorney’s office.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Holmes, who is in charge of the Jensen shooting investigation, said it will be several weeks before his report is complete, and would not comment further on the case.

When the report is done, the Oxnard Police Department will conduct an administrative review of the district attorney’s investigation to determine if further internal inquiry is necessary, said Assistant Police Chief Tom Cady.

“We are anxious to see their report and review what [it] has to say,” Cady said.

Steinbrecher said he expects the report will detail a litany of mistakes, saying the SWAT team went into the condominium with a “cowboy attitude.”

“What if it was a drug dealer, or a drug dealer’s mother?” he said. “That doesn’t give them a right to shoot anything that moves. . . . I’ve talked to SWAT people around the country and there isn’t anybody that doesn’t feel that Officer Jensen was killed needlessly.”

Last year, Steinbrecher represented an Oxnard man paralyzed when his Subaru Brat overturned. He won $1.7 million in damages, assessed against both the auto maker and the city of Oxnard, which was faulted for the layout of the road.

The Jensen case was another example of negligence, he said.

“Our goal is justice for the Jensen family and to make this an example of what not to do,” Steinbrecher said. “Maybe we can save some lives by that.”