Slaying by Deputy Is Ruled Justified : Justice: But prosecutors are critical of the way the Sheriff’s Department handled the shooting of a Cardiff activist.

Prosecutors announced Wednesday that no criminal charges will be filed against a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy for using deadly force in the February shooting of a Cardiff activist but nonetheless stung the department for its handling of the investigation.

Even though prosecutors suspect Deputy Jeffrey Jackson of lying during the sheriff’s inquiry--and, despite leading questions from the investigators probing his actions--the deputy was justified in shooting Paul Reynolds in the neck at a Cardiff gas station seven months ago, the prosecutor found.

Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller faulted the Sheriff Department’s lack of objectivity in investigating one of its own and blasted Jackson for his “lack of truthfulness” throughout the probe.

Miller also said Jackson significantly departed from basic safety rules by coming too close to Reynolds during the incident and called for the Sheriff’s Department to review its policy and training for the use of deadly force.

Sheriff Jim Roache said Wednesday that Jackson’s errors in judgment in no way suggested defects in the department’s training on the use of force. He said he planned no review of such procedures.

“I’m sure that Deputy Jackson would handle it differently if the tragic situation happened again,” he said. “But hindsight is 20/20. When you’re Monday-morning quarterbacking without the stress of the situation, you reach different conclusions.

“I’m sitting here secure. There’s no inherent threat on my life. Unfortunately, that’s not what Deputy Jackson was dealing with. But his actions do not call into question our training procedures. The district attorney and I beg to differ on that point.”

The district attorney’s 11-page letter also criticized the department’s handling of the case.

Specifically, prosecutors pointed to a statement about Reynolds made by homicide Detective Robert Sams to Jackson during a fact-finding interview, calling it “unprofessional and counter-productive to the objective gathering of facts.”

“Uh, if your story is consistent with the truck driver’s,” the letter quoted Sams telling Jackson, referring to a witness in the case. “You know, the f----- had it comin’. That’s it.”

Roache said Wednesday that Detective Sams was removed from the case after supervisors discovered the profane statement.

Furthermore, in later interviews with Jackson, prosecutors said, detectives “asked leading and suggestive questions in an apparent effort to help Deputy Jackson articulate a more explicit fear for his life.”

Roache called the accusations “embarrassing.”

“My detectives understand that I will not tolerate anything less than complete and objective investigations,” Roache said. “The unprofessional profanity uttered by a member of the Homicide Team suggested that the shooting was justified. To make any conclusion before all the facts have been gathered and analyzed is unacceptable.”

Roache would not comment further on steps taken to discipline Sams. “But rest assured, there was swift, sure and decisive response by this organization.”

Deputy Jackson confronted Reynolds, a 44-year-old unemployed electronics engineer and vice president of the Cardiff town council, about 1 a.m. Feb. 18, at a nearly-deserted gas station on Birmingham Avenue.

Authorities say Reynolds, who took medication for a form of manic depression, had parked his late-model Honda in the middle of the road, blocking traffic in front of the business.

Reynolds then walked about the station, which was deserted but for a truck driver refilling underground gasoline tanks. He was reportedly acting erratically and brandishing a marlin spike, a small knife used by fishermen and sailors to part strands of heavy rope.

The truck driver, Robert Wapnowski, later told authorities that Reynolds waved the spike in front of him. When Deputy Jackson arrived at the scene, Wapnowski shouted: “Stop this guy, he has a weapon,” according to the prosecutor’s report.

Jackson reportedly ordered Reynolds to drop the spike and lie on the pavement. The suspect at first complied but then suddenly swung the spike at the deputy, who was standing behind him.

Jackson fired one shot, hitting Reynolds in the neck.

On Wednesday, friends of Reynolds called the decision a tragedy but said that Reynolds’ widow would continue the fight in her husband’s name. Earlier this month, Jeanette Reynolds filed a $10-million wrongful-death suit in federal court, naming the county, Sheriff Jim Roache and Deputy Jackson, known to fellow patrolmen as “J.J.”

“Jeanette is still heartbroken. She’s still lonely. But now she’s mad, too,” said Pat Rudolph, a Cardiff activist and friend of the couple. “And she’s going to do everything in her power so see that justice will come from some source.”

In their letter to Roache, prosecutors attacked several aspects of Jackson’s conduct during the investigation, including his secret tape-recording of his first interview with homicide detectives.

Jackson later told investigators that, at the beginning of the interview, he accidentally started the tape recorder, which he usually kept in his breast pocket. But prosecutors say the taping began precisely at the start of the session and ceased exactly at the end.

“We are skeptical that the recording occurred in the manner stated by Deputy Jackson,” the prosecutors’ letter said. “His explanation is implausible, at best.”

Miller said Wednesday that prosecutors were suspicious of Jackson’s claim that he tried to kick Reynolds, and therefore disarm him, before he fired the fatal shot.

Jackson added this detail to his account only on subsequent interviews by homicide detectives, saying he forgot that detail the first time around.

“Prior to the time Deputy Jackson made his statement about his ‘kick,’ criticism had been expressed in the media concerning his handling of Reynolds and the appropriateness of positioning himself so near an armed suspect,” the letter said. “That criticism may account for the apparent faulty memory or outright fabrication.”

When Wapnowski’s eyewitness account of the incident did not mention any kick, Jackson again changed his story, saying he took a “giant step” toward Reynolds.

Roache said Wednesday that he was satisfied with the results of the investigation and said that the department would further probe the statements Jackson made to investigators. He refused to comment on any potential discipline against Jackson, who is back on patrol.

“What I think about his actions are irrelevant,” Roache said in response to questioning. “It’s what I can prove is the issue. If he’s found to be lying, my department’s reaction would be swift--he’d face immediate and severe disciplinary action.

“But, if I’m going to discipline or terminate someone, I can’t use maybes. I have to be able to prove it. And I can’t do that now.”

In a hastily called press conference, Miller said late Wednesday that, despite the apparent untruths on the part of the deputy, the shooting was nonetheless justified. “Jackson reasonably concluded that Reynolds posed a threat to his life or might inflict great bodily harm when he thrust the spike toward Deputy Jackson,” the prosecutor’s letter said.

“We have the solid word of independent witnesses as to what occurred,” he said. “I’m content with that conclusion.”

Both Miller and Roache criticized the county grand jury and local law enforcement citizen’s review board for conducting their own investigations before both law-enforcement agencies had completed their own probes. The results of those investigations are still pending.

Miller said what bothered him most was that witnesses had been approached repeatedly by different organizations and asked their opinion on the killing in addition to an assessment of the facts.

“I think it’s awful,” Miller said. “Not only is it unnecessary, but it confuses independent witnesses and interferes with proper investigators.”

Roache said he planned to ask the County Board of Supervisors to limit further grand jury investigations.

“We’re the professional interviewers--not the grand jury,” Miller said. “Why have the whole investigation confused by innumerable interviews? It’s disruptive.”