Condemned Cop Killer Dies While Serving In Inland Empire's Largest State Prison

CHINO, CA — A death-row inmate convicted of shooting and killing a police officer more than 40 years ago died over the weekend at the age of 72.

Michael Anthony Jackson died on June 6 while incarcerated at the California Institution for Men in Chino.

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Jackson was pronounced dead at an outside medical facility. The San Bernardino County Coroner will determine his official cause of death.

Jackson was received from Los Angeles County on May 30, 1984, and placed on condemned status for first-degree murder.

Shortly after noon on August 31, 1983, West Covina Police Officer Kenneth Scott Wrede, 26, responded to calls about an intoxicated man disturbing local residents.

Wrede approached the man, who identified as 29-year-old Jackson. Wrede tried to handcuff him, but instead Jackson grabbed a shotgun from inside the officer's patrol car and shot the law enforcement agent multiple times, according to multiple archived reports.

Before dying, Wrede radioed for help. By the time backup arrived, he was dead. Wrede had served with the West Covina Police Department for three years.

In 2007, a 4-mile section of Interstate 10 was dedicated as the West Covina Police Officer Kenneth Scott Wrede Memorial Highway in memory of him.

Jackson was immediately arrested in the killing and admitted to taking PCP-laced cigarettes the same day as the violence.

Despite arguments from defense attorneys that Jackson may not have been legally responsible for the killing due to his extreme intoxication, on May 21, 1984, he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

On May 9, 2000, with Jackson's execution date approaching, the federal court of appeals determined that if all available evidence had been presented during the trial's penalty phase, there was a reasonable chance that Jackson might have received a sentence of life imprisonment.

Nonetheless, the inmate remained on death row.