3 Doctors Say Man Who Killed LA County Deputy Was Legally Insane: Defense

LOS ANGELES, CA — A defense attorney told jurors Wednesday that they will hear testimony from three doctors who concluded that a man convicted of first-degree murder for pulling up next to a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy at a red light in Palmdale and shooting him in broad daylight was legally insane at the time of the crime.

Defense attorney George Rosenstock — who is presenting his portion of the sanity phase of trial first — told the downtown Los Angeles jury that Kevin Eduardo Cataneo Salazar, now 32, has been diagnosed as a schizophrenic, has a history of psychiatric hospitalizations and did not have the capacity to distinguish what was morally right or wrong when he killed Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer on Sept. 16, 2023.

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"The issue is what was in his mind when he pulled the trigger," Salazar's attorney said in his opening statement in the second phase of the trial, telling the panel that it involves "one split second."

Deputy District Attorney David Ayvazian reserved his opening statement until the start of the prosecution's case.

Salazar was convicted Monday, with jurors finding true the special circumstance allegations of murder of a peace officer, lying in wait and firing from a vehicle, along with allegations that he personally used and discharged a .22-caliber revolver.

Salazar, a Palmdale resident, entered a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the killing.

He could face life in prison if he is found sane. If he is determined to have been insane at the time of the killing, he would be confined to a state hospital rather than prison.

Clinkunbroomer — a multi-generation sheriff's deputy who had become engaged to be married four days before he was killed — was shot in the back of the head while in a marked patrol SUV near the sheriff's Palmdale station and was rushed to Antelope Valley Medical Center in grave condition. He was pronounced dead that night.

Salazar's attorney told the panel that a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict "does not contradict your first verdict." The defense lawyer said Salazar was operating under a "delusional" framework in which he felt he was being persecuted.

Salazar suffered from auditory hallucinations and believed that NASA and the Air Force were "controlling his mind," his attorney said, noting his client's references to satellites.

Salazar's attorney told jurors that his client was diagnosed in 2019 as being schizophrenic and was hospitalized two other times, including once in which he believed he was being electrocuted.

Rosenstock said that his client has been on "anti-psychotic medication every day" since his Sept. 18, 2023, arrest.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Blake had told jurors in his closing argument in the guilt phase, "No one is not suggesting that there is some mental health issue." But the prosecutor contended that it didn't interfere with the defendant's ability to make a decision to kill the deputy in a "surprise attack."

"It's goal-directed. It's step-by-step," Blake said of Salazar's actions.

The prosecutor said the crime appeared to have been motivated by retaliation because the defendant "blamed the government and police for his own disappointments."

The prosecutor told jurors that Salazar was initially following a Los Angeles County sheriff's sergeant who wound up pulling into the sheriff's station, but turned his attention to Clinkunbroomer and made a U-turn to follow him and stalk "his prey" as the 30-year-old deputy pulled his patrol SUV out of the station.

The deputy district attorney described the defendant's actions as "goal-directed," saying that there was "no evidence that anything interfered with his ability to premeditate and deliberate," and that paper targets subsequently recovered indicated that he had "obviously practiced" shooting at a target — in particular shooting at the head on the target.

Salazar's attorney countered during the trial's guilt phase that "impulse is inconsistent with deliberation," questioning the prosecution's assertion that Salazar was capable of premeditation and deliberation.

"You can't ignore what they haven't proved," he said then of the prosecution's case.

In his rebuttal argument, Ayvazian said Salazar had told two undercover operatives in jail during a surreptitiously recorded conversation after his arrest that he had wanted to kill a police officer for years and described following officers, parking and waiting and playing music to prepare himself.

Salazar had also told the operatives that he had gone to a candlelight vigil at the station the night after the deputy's killing, the prosecutor said, adding that it showed that Salazar was "enjoying the anonymity of what he's done."

Investigators didn't initially know who had shot and killed Clinkunbroomer, but used surveillance video footage to identify a vehicle believed to be a Toyota Corolla and then to ask the public to come forward with any information about the vehicle.

Among those who contacted investigators was a motorist who testified that he took a photo of the license plate of a vehicle whose driver had aggressively confronted him about seven minutes before authorities believe Clinkunbroomer was shot. The motorist identified Salazar in court during a 2024 hearing as that driver.

Authorities used the license plate number shown in the photo taken by the motorist and determined that someone living at Salazar's house had a registered .22-caliber firearm, with detectives subsequently getting an arrest warrant for Salazar and a search warrant for his home, where a .22-caliber revolver was discovered, according to evidence presented at the 2024 hearing.

At a June 2024 hearing in which Salazar was ordered to stand trial, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Detective Gustavo Carrillo testified that Salazar acknowledged his involvement in the shooting during questioning at the Palmdale station by detectives two days after the killing. Salazar told investigators that he felt bad and "cried for the (expletive) officer," according to the detective.

Under cross-examination by Salazar's attorney at the 2024 hearing, the detective acknowledged that when asked why he had shot the deputy, Salazar responded that it had "started a long time ago before COVID" and that he "began to hear voices in his head."

The slain deputy was honored in January with the Castaic Sports Complex being renamed the Ryan M. Clinkunbroomer Castaic Sports Complex.

City News Service