A Penn Prosecutor Target of Probe : Theft Allegation Believed Unlikely to Affect Trial Outcome

One of the prosecutors in the retrial of accused police killer Sagon Penn is under investigation by the state attorney general’s office in connection with the reported theft last weekend of tools from the back of a pick-up truck, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

The prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Wayne Mayer, remains on duty, and his status is unaffected by the investigation, according to the district attorney’s office.

Mayer could not be reached for comment.

A statement released by the district attorney’s office said the investigation stemmed from a citizen’s complaint. Because one of its deputies was a “potential subject” of the complaint, the district attorney’s office referred the case to the attorney general’s office for investigation, the statement said.

Power Saw Missing

Sources said the complaint involved the purported theft of a power saw from a parked pick-up truck.

San Diego County Superior Court Judge J. Morgan Lester, who is presiding in Penn’s retrial, was informed of the allegations Wednesday. Lester could not be reached for comment. Defense attorney Milton J. Silverman, who like other attorneys in the case is under a gag order, declined to comment.

Steve Casey, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, refused to speculate on whether the allegations could have any impact on the retrial, in which Penn is charged with killing one San Diego police officer and wounding another and a civilian during a confrontation in Encanto on March 31, 1985.

“I don’t think it’s our place to speculate on any impact anything of this sort could have on any case at this point,” Casey said. “What we are going to do is simply sit quietly and await the conclusion of the investigation by the Police Department and the attorney general before speculating on anything, deciding anything or discussing anything.”

No Verdict Yet

Jurors concluded their sixth day of deliberations in the retrial Wednesday without reaching a verdict.

Penn, 25, faces five felony counts in the shooting death of San Diego Police Agent Thomas Riggs and the wounding of Agent Donovan Jacobs and civilian ride-along Sarah Pina Ruiz.

The defense claims Penn, a black, was firing to defend himself from a racially motivated attack.