Thread: Defense to cite depression in killing of Oceanside, CA cop

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Defense to cite depression in killing of cop

Drugs also are part of mental state issue

By Jose Luis Jiménez
STAFF WRITER

August 20, 2005


VISTA – Lawyers representing a man accused of murdering an Oceanside police officer plan to argue that depression and prescription and illegal drugs put him in a mental state that led him to unintentionally kill.
The defense strategy for Adrian Camacho, 30, was discussed yesterday during a pretrial hearing in a case in which the District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty.

The Oceanside man is accused of fatally shooting rookie officer Tony Zeppetella during a traffic stop in a credit union parking lot on Avenida de la Plata on June 13, 2003.

Court papers filed by Deputy Public Defenders Kathleen Cannon and William Stone indicate they will use a mental defense in an effort to keep their client off death row.

The attorneys plan to introduce evidence that Camacho was diagnosed with major depression in the summer of 2003 and was using the anti-depressant prescription drug Paxil.

He also was using methamphetamine and heroin in the days before the encounter with Zeppetella, according to the court papers.

Superior Court Judge Joan Weber said she expects the defense attorneys to use that evidence to argue that Camacho did not intend to kill the officer and ask the jury to convict him of the less-serious crime of second-degree murder, which would spare him from facing the death penalty.

After reaching that conclusion, Weber ordered that mental health experts working for the prosecution be allowed to examine Camacho.

"The critical issue will be the jury's analysis of mental state issues," Weber said. "That's a very unique defense."

The judge also rejected another attempt by Stone and Cannon to block prosecutors from seeking the death penalty.

The defense lawyers said their client's constitutional rights to equal protection and due process were violated because California does not offer prosecutors a guideline on how to apply the death penalty.

They also cited the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which bars cruel and unusual punishment.

Stone argued that California law is too liberal as to when the death penalty can be sought in a murder case, contrary to Supreme Court rulings that it should be used in the narrowest of circumstances.

In response, Deputy District Attorney David Rubin said there is no case law to support the equal protection and due process arguments. He said the Eighth Amendment issues have been rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

While Weber said the arguments had some merit, she also refused to stop the prosecution from pursuing capital punishment.

Last month, defense lawyers also sought to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty by arguing that Camacho's right to meet with a member of the Mexican Consulate was violated by authorities.

Weber also rejected that argument, noting that Camacho was extended his right to consular access when jailed but refused to exercise it.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Sept. 23, with opening statements expected to start in early October.

If this case doesn't warrent the death penalty, I don't know which does! Let's hope the jury that is seated has the courage to do the right thing.