Man Serving Life Sentence for Killing Cypress Cop up for Parole

LOS ALAMITOS, CA — The parole of an inmate convicted of first-degree murder of a Cypress Police Department officer is being disputed once again, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Bobby Joe Denney, now 72-year-old inmate at the California Institute for Men in Chino, pleaded guilty in May of 1977 and was convicted in June of that same year to one felony count of possession of a firearm by a felon and sentence enhancement of being armed with a deadly weapon. At the time of his sentence, there was a national moratorium on capital punishment. By 1978, the death penalty for anyone convicted of killing a police officer in the line of duty was reinstated.

He is serving a sentence of life in prison, and parole for this sentence is once again being discussed.

In the original case, Denney was accused of burglarizing a medical clinic in Cypress for the purpose of stealing narcotics.

"He forced entry through a locked window, triggering a silent alarm that prompted CPD officers to respond to the scene," Roxi Fyad of the Orange County District's Attorney's office stated in her report.

Denney was carrying a revolver, pry bars, lock picks and a radio with an earpiece.

A newly promoted Cypress Police Department Sergeant, Donald Sowma, was one of the first to respond to the scene.

"CPD Sgt. Donald Sowma heard a noise coming from a room in an art gallery adjacent to the doctor's office and as he approached the doorway, Denney fired a single shot," Fyad said. "The round struck Sowma in the chest and Denney delayed rescue attempts by firing a second shot toward responding officers."

According to the report, officers risked their lives to retrieve Sowma and transport him to a nearby hospital. He later died as a result of the bullet wound.

Meanwhile, Denney refused to come out, staying in the building for six more hours. Officers ultimately took him into custody, but not before a third shot was fired by Denney to the CPD responders attempting to extract him from the scene in a non-lethal manner. It was later found that Denney's wife was on the other end of the radio, at a hotel room across the street from the medical offices.

"A police scanner radio equipment and inject-able narcotics were found in their possession," Fyad said.

According to District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, a 2013 parole hearing for Denney was denied, upon a decision that he continued to pose an unreasonable threat to public safety and was a danger to society.

"The Panel concluded (in 2013) that Denney committed a crime in a 'disturbing manner' and multiple surviving members of Sowma's family described the heartbreaking impact the murder has had on their lives each day," he said.

Reasons stated for his continued incarceration included a lack of insight into the criminal's own behavior at the time of the crime, and blaming his then-wife and her family for the reason he wend down a "troubled path." During his prison term, Denney has refused to report to work and has been known to carry inmate manufactured weapons.

According to Rackauckas, "despite his age, the inmate's physical health does not limit his ability to reoffend."

Sgt. Sowma's death was the first killing of an Orange County Policeman at that time since 1972. He was the first Cypress Policeman killed in the line of duty since the department was formed 17 years before, according to the California Peace Officers' Memorial Foundation.

When Denney was originally sentenced, California did not institute life without parole or death penalty sentences. He currently is serving a sentence of life in prison.

Denney is schedule for a parole hearing on Sept. 22 at 1:30 pm. before the Board of Parole Hearings.

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