OFFICER FAULTED AS NEGLIGENT IN SLAYING : DA'S OFFICE REPORT ALSO BLAMES OXNARD SWAT.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

An investigation into an Oxnard police officer's killing during a botched drug raid found blame with the department's special weapons team but stopped short of accusing the officer who fired the fatal shots of committing a criminal act.

The report released Wednesday by the Ventura County District Attorney's Office said Sgt. Daniel Christian was negligent when he mistook Officer James Jensen for a drug suspect and fired three shots from his 12-gauge shotgun during a March 13 drug raid. It also noted several discrepancies between Christian's statements to investigators and those made by other officers on the raid, as well as the timing of events and physical evidence.

However, the 48-page report concluded that ``it is not possible to accurately assess whether Christian's negligence reaches the level of criminal culpability.''

``We need to get beyond a reasonable doubt to criminal negligence and that's a very long leap from civil negligence,'' said Senior Deputy District Attorney Richard Holmes, the major crimes supervisor. ``On the other hand, we do not declare this matter to be one of justifiable or excusable homicide.''

An attorney for Jensen's widow, however, said the report provides sufficient evidence for her to seek civil damages in her husband's death.

``We don't want Jim Jensen's death to go unnoticed. SWAT teams across the country have to be well-trained and circumspect of the force they use. Hopefully, this case will set an example of what not to do,'' said Edward Steinbrecher, the Encino attorney representing Jennifer Jensen.

With the investigation completed, Steinbrecher said he will file a wrongful-death suit against Christian, the Oxnard Police Department and its top officials.

Christian's attorneys did not return phone calls seeking comment. The district attorney's report said Christian, who remains on the police force, and his attorneys refused to cooperate with the inquiry.

Oxnard police officials wouldn't comment on the district attorney's investigation.

``Given that there's pending litigation, our position is not to give any comment on the district attorney's report,'' said David Keith, the department's spokesman.

Jensen was shot by Christian, a police supervisor, as the Special Weapons and Tactics team raided a condominium where suspected methamphetamine dealers were believed to be living.

The March 13 raid followed a 17-month investigation by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency officials who tracked two men seen selling methamphetamine in Oxnard. The raid turned up a handgun and a small amount of cash, but no suspects and no narcotics.

Jensen, a SWAT team member for only seven months, led the raid on the condominium's second floor after tossing a flash-bang explosive charge.

Christian told police investigators he saw someone who he believed was a suspect facing him and pointing a gun in the smoke-filled hallway. Christian said he fired three shots from his 12-gauge shotgun, only to realize that he had shot his partner.

The district attorney's report contained excerpts from Christian's interview in which he said, ``I and the other officers were yelling, `police, police, search warrant,' and I was approaching the door and I saw a barrel of a weapon and a hand coming out of the doorway and then I saw, uh, the figure behind it and it was approaching toward me. I, uh, fired.

``Throughout this whole thing I thought Jimmy was either right beside me or slightly in front of me as we would go in a two-man element.''

The district attorney's investigation, however, found that Christian should not have mistaken Jensen for a suspect. The investigation also found numerous contradictions between Christian's statements and statements from other officers on the raid, the timing of events, and physical evidence.

``The most glaring discrepancy in the entire situation is between Sgt. Christian's assertion that the person confronting him was facing him at the time he first fired at that figure and the scientific physical fact that Officer Jensen was shot in the left rear shoulder,'' the report stated.

The report noted that one of the officers behind Christian could identify Jensen and none of the officers saw the figure holding a weapon. The timing of events would have placed Jensen with his back to Christian in the doorway, and the flash-bang explosive charge couldn't have created much fire or smoke.

``Thus, everything Christian saw should have told him that the figure in front of him was Jensen. To have decided that the figure was a suspect was simply to jump to a conclusion with little logical or factual basis,'' the report stated.