Newhall Shooting - A Tactical Analysis. Michael E. Wood

hit Davis with a fragment of a bullet, as indicated in the narrative. California Highway Patrol. (1975) Newhall: 1970 [Film]. Sacramento, CA, courtesy of Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and SCVTV, <http://www.scvtv.com/html/newhall1970-chp1975btv.html> and Anderson, J., & Cassady, M. (1999) The Newhall Incident. Fresno, CA: Quill Driver Books. p.157-158, and Interview with Mr. Kness. Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. (2010) The Newhall Incident: A Law Enforcement Tragedy [Film]. Santa Clarita, CA, courtesy of Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and SCVTV, <http://www.scvtv.com/html/scvhs040510btv.html>.

      35. Although he could not have known it at the time, it appears that Officer Alleyn’s gun was not empty and that Mr. Kness actually had one additional live round left in the cylinder.

      When the fight was over, Officer Alleyn’s Model 19-2 revolver was recovered by CHP Officer Jack Burniston and placed in CHP Sergeant P.M. Connell’s car, along with Officer Pence’s loaded revolver and Officer Alleyn’s empty shotgun. One live round of .357 Magnum ammunition was recovered with Officer Alleyn’s gun, in addition to five spent cases.

      It’s conceivable that Officer Alleyn tried to cock or fire the revolver earlier in the fight, but did not work the hammer or trigger all the way, perhaps because the bloody revolver was so slippery. This short stroke could have advanced the cylinder far enough to line up the next round, but since the hammer was not brought fully back (in either single- or double-action), or the trigger was released forward before the sear tripped, the round under the hammer was not fired. A subsequent trigger stroke or manual cocking of the hammer would have advanced the cylinder again, skipping this live round.

      In such a sequence, rounds numbers one through three were fired by Officer Alleyn, round number four was somehow skipped, round number five was fired into the rear window of 78-8, and round number 6 was fired by Mr. Kness at Davis.

      It’s plausible that such an action occurred after Officer Alleyn was shot by Davis with the shotgun, at the rear of Unit 78-8. The horrible wounds suffered by Officer Alleyn could have caused him to short stroke or release the trigger as he clung to life and desperately tried to continue fighting. The live round would have been skipped immediately before Officer Alleyn was struck a second time by Davis’ buckshot and before he triggered his final round into the rear window of Unit 78-8.

      Alternatively, the round may have been skipped by Mr. Kness himself, who reported difficulty with cocking the gun properly after he picked it up from the ground. After reacquiring a better grip, Mr. Kness was able to cock the revolver and fire it once at Davis, before a spent case found its way under the hammer for the subsequent attempt.

      Again, Mr. Kness could not have known there was another live round in the gun. After two unsuccessful attempts to shoot the empty shotgun, it’s entirely reasonable that he assumed the revolver was also completely empty when it clicked dry on the second attempt. It’s simply a shame that fate and the friction of war intervened to deprive him of a second chance to fire at Davis. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide investigation files.

      36. Unit 78-16R (Officers Holmes and Robinson) in the lead with Unit 78-19R (Officers Ingold and Palmer) behind.

      37. When he attempted to fire the revolver a second time and the hammer fell on an empty chamber, Mr. Kness decided to leave the scene. Simultaneously, he heard a boom “like a 105mm howitzer going off, but it was only a .45.” The boom was the 1911A1 pistol being fired by Twining at Officer Pence. Interview with Mr. Kness. Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. (2010) The Newhall Incident: A Law Enforcement Tragedy [Film]. Santa Clarita, CA, courtesy of Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and SCVTV, <http://www.scvtv.com/html/scvhs040510btv.html>.

      38. Officer Pence’s reload has been the subject of much discussion and debate. It has been widely reported that Officer Pence reflexively pocketed his spent brass as he had been conditioned to do in range training at the CHP Academy. It has been reported that the spent brass was found in his pants pocket during the post-mortem examination, and this supposed “fact” has been used to support a multitude of theories about the quality of CHP training and Officer Pence’s presence of mind during the fight.

      It is categorically false that Officer Pence pocketed the spent .357 Magnum brass during the gunfight. His pile of spent .357 brass, marked by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department evidence tag JHC #18, was found on the ground abeam the rear door on the driver’s side of the vehicle, right where Officer Pence was reloading his weapon before he was murdered. Evidence photos show the brass in that location, and the witness testimony of retired CHP Sergeant (then, Officer) Harry Ingold, who checked on Officer Pence and marked the spot he had fallen in the immediate moments after the fight, supports it. Sergeant Ingold specifically recalls seeing the spent brass on the ground in that location; the same location reported by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Criminalist Jack H. Clark when he tagged it “found by side of vehicle #2” and had it photographed as evidence item #18 (JHC #18), hours later.

      This brass was also mentioned in the report of the lead investigator, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Sergeant John Brady, who said that when they arrived at 00:50 hours (less than an hour after the shooting ended), and began their inspection of the crime scene, he noted “several expended shell cases, possibly .38 or .357” on the ground.

      It’s critical to note that the only spent revolver brass found loose on the ground at the crime scene was the brass near Officer Pence’s location.

      The spent .38 Special revolver brass in Davis’ Model 38 revolver was still in the revolver, which was left in the rear seat of the Pontiac. The spent .357 Magnum revolver brass in Twining’s Model 28 revolver was dumped during the flight from the crime scene and never recovered, except for the one case that remained in the gun as it was found at the scene of the Schwartz robbery by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas L. Fryer. The spent .38 Special revolver brass in Officer Frago’s Officer’s Model Match revolver was also dumped during the flight from the crime scene and never recovered, except for one case that was found in the gun when it was located in the camper of Schwartz’s vehicle and booked into evidence by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Don G. Tomlinson. The spent .357 Magnum revolver brass (and single live round) in Officer Alleyn’s Model 19 revolver was recovered with his gun and secured at the scene by CHP Officer Jack Burniston, who put them on the floorboard of CHP Sergeant Paul Connell’s vehicle. These cases were later booked into evidence, when they were delivered by CHP Sergeant Cable to the LASO Crime lab. The single round of spent .357 Magnum brass fired in Officer Gore’s Colt Python revolver was recovered from the floor of the Hoag residence by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Sergeant John Brady. The remaining handgun cartridge cases at the scene came from Twining’s .45 ACP pistols.

      The brass marked JHC #18 was later examined by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Crime Lab, where Sgt. James Warner determined that the brass had been fired in Officer Pence’s Colt Python revolver.

      There is no mention of the spent brass in the detailed post-mortem report completed by Los Angeles County Coroner Gaston Herrera, M.D.

      In summary, the only spent revolver brass that was found loose on the ground at the crime scene was the brass marked JHC #18 by Sheriff’s investigators. This JHC #18 brass was found in the location where Officer Pence was completing his reload when he was murdered. It was seen there by an officer who was the first on the scene and remembers seeing it in the immediate moments after the fight. It was also seen by the lead investigator for the homicide (who was from another agency), within 50 minutes of the end of the gunfight. It is not possible that this brass came from another weapon at the crime scene, as scientific examination verified that this brass was fired in Officer Pence’s revolver, and all other revolver brass at the scene was accounted for.

      There is no reason to believe that the brass was recovered at the Coroner’s Office in Officer Pence’s pocket during post-mortem examinations, then transported back to the scene of the crime to be fraudulently deposited there,