Arraignment set for parolee accused in deputy slaying
A parolee accused of killing sheriff’s Sgt. Steven Owen and ordered in June to stand trial for murder saw his scheduled arraignment on that charge put off until November.
Trenton Trevon Lovell, 28, appeared Tuesday in a courtroom at the Michael Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse in Lancaster expecting to be officially charged with several crimes, including murder.
Instead, Lovell was re-scheduled to now be arraigned on Nov. 14, said Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Lovell faces one count of murder with the special circumstance allegations of murder for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest and murder of a peace officer.
He is also expected to face one count each of attempted murder with an allegation that he used a patrol car as a deadly and dangerous weapon; possession of a firearm by a felon with priors; and two counts each of first-degree residential robbery and false imprisonment by violence, with a knife-use allegation, according to the criminal complaint filed by prosecutors.
Lovell is accused of shooting Owen, 53, multiple times Oct. 5, 2016, shortly after the deputy arrived at the 3,200 block of West Avenue J-7 responding to a residential burglary call.
The suspect allegedly then jumped into the sergeant’s patrol vehicle while a second deputy arrived at the scene, prosecutors said.
The defendant is charged with ramming the second deputy’s vehicle with Owen’s patrol car. Lovell then allegedly fled into a nearby residence where he held two victims at knifepoint, prosecutors added. Deputies arrested the defendant soon after. Lovell is being held without bail.
If convicted as charged, the defendant faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. A decision on whether to seek capital punishment will be made at a later date.