Jury: Death Penalty for Convicted Cop Killer

Riverside - A jury recommended the death penalty today for a 71- year-old paraplegic who killed two Riverside police officers 27 years ago and was first sentenced to death more than two decades ago.

Jackson Chambers Daniels is scheduled to be formally sentenced by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Roger Luebs on Jan. 28.

Two weeks ago, the seven-woman, five-man jury convicted Daniels of two counts of first-degree murder and found multiple special circumstance allegations to be true.

The jury spent less than two days deliberating in the penalty phase of Daniels' trial before recommending that he be executed for killing officers Dennis C. Doty and Philip N. Trust on May 13, 1982.

Daniels slouched in his wheelchair, staring toward the front of the courtroom, as the jury's decision was announced.

The defendant was first sentenced to death in 1984. But in 2005, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated his convictions based on evidence that his two court-appointed attorneys had failed in 1983 to provide an adequate defense.

According to the appellate court, the attorneys -- neither of whom had handled a capital murder case -- spent barely three months preparing for the trial, were distrusted by Daniels, routinely had difficulty communicating with him, and employed a "ludicrous defense" that he was not the shooter "in the face of overwhelming evidence of culpability."

"I was really unhappy with the 9th Circuit for doing that. It's really unbelievable that everybody was put through this again," said Mike Eveland, a retired Riverside police detective who personally knew the victims and now operates a Web site -- RPDremembers.org -- honoring them and other fallen officers.

Eveland was among uniformed Riverside police officers and friends and relatives of Doty and Trust who gathered to hear the jury's decision.

The 30-year law enforcement veteran said the emotional wounds run deep.

"This guy deserves to die," Eveland said. "I wish they would put him at the front of the line. I want to see him put to death for what he has done."

Daniels' attorneys, Michael Belter and Jay Ritt, intend to ask Luebs to reduce the sentence from death to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Judges have discretion to modify verdicts in capital cases, but rarely go against a jury's recommendation.

In January 1980, the defendant robbed a First National Bank branch in Riverside and then led police on a high-speed chase through the city, ending in a shootout during which Daniels was hit nine times, suffering disabling spinal injuries.

He initially agreed to plead guilty and was sentenced to 13 years in prison, but changed his mind and appealed the trial court decision, prompting a judge to release him on his own recognizance pending the outcome of the appeal, which was denied.

A year passed, and in April 1982, Daniels failed to show up for two court hearings, leading a judge to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. The victims, both 10-year law enforcement veterans who served in the military and fought in Vietnam, were dispatched to retrieve him at the home where he rented a room.

They found Daniels naked on his bed, and as the officers stood by, waiting for him to dress, the defendant reached underneath him and produced a .38 caliber revolver, fatally shooting Doty, who was nearest to him.

Trust shot the pistol out of Daniels' hand, but the paraplegic managed to roll onto the floor and get possession of Doty's sidearm, emptying it into Trust.

Daniels then escaped to a friend's house in Rubidoux, where he was captured.

"It brought home for all of us that this kind of thing can happen to anybody, anytime," said Assistant Riverside police Chief John De La Rosa, who was a patrolman in a K-9 unit when the officers were slain. "It highlighted the importance of training and communication."

De La Rosa said the Safe In His Arms memorial, which stands outside police headquarters and bears the names of all law enforcement officers killed in the county over the last century, was inspired by the deaths of Doty and Trust.