Oceanside officers pack courtroom for arraignment
By Onell R. Soto, The San Diego Union-Tribune
VISTA - Oceanside police Officer Tony Zeppetella was executed by an ex-convict who was driving a stolen car and planning to sell heroin, according to charges filed yesterday that could lead to the death penalty in the case.
Zeppetella was walking away from the car Friday after a traffic stop when he was first shot by Adrian Camacho, Deputy District Attorney David Rubin told a judge.
After an exchange of gunfire, Camacho got out of his car, pistol-whipped the wounded officer and killed Zeppetella with the officer’s gun before stealing his patrol car, Rubin said.
Camacho, 28, appeared in Superior Court in a wheelchair, recovering from a wound he sustained during the shooting. He wore a green County Jail jumpsuit, the color used to identify dangerous prisoners. His not-guilty plea was entered by defense lawyer Alex Loebig.
The courtroom was crowded with more than two dozen Oceanside police officers, as well as relatives and friends of both the officer and the man accused of murdering him.
Camacho was barely audible yesterday when he said “Yes, sir” and “Yes, your honor” to questions posed to him by Judge Richard Mills. Loebig said Camacho is taking pain medication for the injury he suffered when Zeppetella shot him in the leg.
The deadly confrontation at 5 p.m. Friday began as a traffic stop at Navy Federal Credit Union on College Avenue, Rubin said in court papers and during the hearing.
Camacho pulled the car he was driving into a marked stall in the parking lot and the officer blocked his exit with his patrol car, the prosecutor said.
Zeppetella talked to Camacho briefly, leaning into Camacho’s car by the driver’s window before turning back to his patrol car, Rubin said.
“As he walks away, the defendant opened fire on him,” Rubin said.
Zeppetella was struck by the gunfire and bent over slightly, the prosecutor said, before Camacho got out of his car and continued shooting. Zeppetella fired back.
As Zeppetella fell, “the defendant continued to fire, even as Officer Zeppetella struggled to crawl back to his vehicle,” Rubin said.
Camacho calmly walked to Zeppetella, firing as he approached, Rubin said. Camacho bent over, lifted the officer’s head and shoulders from the pavement and pistol-whipped him, Rubin said.
He then grabbed the officer’s gun and shot him to death, Rubin said. Camacho grabbed Zeppetella’s keys and fled in the patrol car to his mother-in-law’s home, where he barricaded himself before surrendering to police, Rubin said. Police said they negotiated with Camacho for four hours.
Officers searching Camacho’s car and house found a large amount of heroin as well as evidence that he was a drug dealer, Rubin said in court papers asking Judge Mills to order Camacho held without bail.
Defense attorneys did not ask for bail. The judge said Camacho is too dangerous to be freed pending trial.
Outside the courtroom, Loebig said Camacho was undergoing withdrawal from a drug addiction and is not denying that he killed the officer.
“Yes, he’s sad,” Loebig said. “Yes, he’s remorseful. He’s not evading his responsibility, saying somebody else did it.”
Loebig said he is unsure if Camacho comprehends what happened Friday.
“He doesn’t remember everything,” Loebig said.
Rubin said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis will decide whether to pursue the death penalty against Camacho before a hearing tentatively scheduled for Aug. 6.
The prosecution has filed a special allegation against Camacho of murdering a police officer.
“This means if the defendant is convicted for executing Officer Zeppetella, the defendant faces either life without possibility of parole or death,” Rubin said in court papers.
Camacho also is charged with possession of drugs for sale, possession of a gun by a felon and auto theft.
Camacho joined one of Oceanside’s oldest gangs at age 15 and has spent much of his life since behind bars on drug and gun charges, according to court records.
About 30 Oceanside police officers were able to get into the courtroom to witness the arraignment. Another dozen waited outside.
They were ordered by another judge not to bring their weapons into the courthouse, a ban that upset many of them.
“There’s no justification whatsoever,” Lt. Shawn Murray said. “It’s an insult. It’s equivalent to kicking an officer while they’re down.”
However, Assistant Presiding Judge John S. Einhorn said in an interview that ordering the officers to leave their weapons outside the courthouse was in everyone’s best interests.
The high emotions surrounding the case could prompt a member of the public to start a dangerous confrontation, he said.
“I’d do it again,” he said, noting a long-standing order prohibiting anyone but peace officers on official business from carrying weapons inside the courthouse.
“They weren’t there . . . on official business,” Einhorn said. “They were there to observe.”