On May 8, Santa Maria Assistant City Attorney Phil Sinco sent the Sun a follow-up letter to its public records requests regarding the death of local resident Jerry Berns.
Berns was shot and killed on March 9, 2011, in an alleyway behind a blacksmith shop on North Blosser Road. Police said he was robbing a marijuana grow and was shot in self defense. The Sun requested copies of the case police report and surveillance video taken the night of Berns’ death.
In the letter to Managing Editor Amy Asman, Sinco said, “In my response to you dated April 30, 2012, I advised you that I had learned from the lead investigator for the City, Detective Terry Flaa, that there was an on-going enforcement proceeding that was related to the March 9, 2011, incident.”
Sinco learned that the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office was pursuing drug charges against two men present at the blacksmith warehouse, one of whom shot Berns. He said “due to unusual circumstances,” the city required further time to determine whether it could comply with the Sun’s request. Manuel Reyes, the man police said shot Berns, received three years’ probation and approximately $200 in fines on May 7, a punishment stemming from marijuana possession-related charges.
“I have finally had a chance to speak with a knowledgeable person at the District Attorney’s Office [Jerry Lulejian] concerning this matter,” Sinco said in the letter. “Mr. Lulejian is in possession of more information concerning this matter than I and he believes that publicly releasing the video ‘would endanger the safety of a witness or other person involved in th investigation,’ which Mr. Lulejian also advised was on-going as far as the District Attorney’s Office was concerned.
Sinco went on to say that, under the recent case of Marken v. Santa Monica-Malibu United School District, “I believe it would be incumbent upon the City to advise those persons whose privacy interests may be affected by the public release of the subject video of any intent to release it to allow such persons an opportunity to object to its release.”
This article appears in May 17-24, 2012.