The jury deciding the fate of the man accused of attempting to murder a Pismo Beach police officer headed into deliberations Friday.
Charles Ammons, 48, is accused of attempting to murder Pismo Beach police Officer Chris Siglin during a traffic stop on April 15, 2022, court documents say.
Siglin first tried to stop Ammons for an illegal left turn, according to body camera footage shown in court, yet Ammons continued to drive slowly in the 200 block of Pomeroy Avenue.
The officer drove up to Ammons’ window, identified himself as a police officer and told him to pull over. Ammons kept driving, so the officer pulled his motorcycle in front of the van to stop him.
The video showed when the officer opened Ammons’ door, he pointed a semiautomatic pistol at Siglin’s head.
Siglin could be seen in the video trying to wrestle the gun away. During the struggle, Ammons allegedly pulled the trigger.
The ammunition had been loaded backwards, so the gun did not fire.
The officer struck Ammons with a taser twice, yanked him out of the van and pinned him to the ground before arresting him, the video showed.
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office charged Ammons with seven crimes: attempted murder of a peace officer, assault on a peace officer with a semiautomatic weapon, carrying a loaded handgun, having a concealed firearm, driving under the influence, driving with blood alcohol content higher than 0.08% and public intoxication.
The agency also tacked on sentencing enhancements for the use of a firearm, having a blood alcohol content higher than 0.15% and prior DUI-related convictions.
Prior to his trial, Ammons attempted to fire his public defender and represent himself and asked the judge to dismiss his charges, claiming he was illegally held in jail. The judge refused.
The defense and prosecution presented their closing arguments to the jury on Friday afternoon before they headed into deliberations.
Did man attempt to kill Pismo Beach police officer?
Prosecutor Cameron Simoes argued that Ammons intended to kill Siglin because he pulled the trigger while pointing the gun at the officer’s face.
“I want you to think of the lethality of the weapon, the direction where it was pointing,” Simoes said. “When you point that at someone’s face, it’s going to kill somebody.”
Simoes showed the jury the body camera footage, and pointed out what he said was the “click” of the trigger.
He then argued that Ammons planned the attempted murder between the time when Siglin tried to pull him over and when the officer opened the door, because Ammons was holding the gun and ready to fire it immediately.
Ammons was arrested at about 1:30 p.m. that day. When police took a blood sample at 3:57 p.m., he had a blood alcohol content of 0.218% — far above the legal limit of 0.08%, Simoes said. This justified the charge for driving under the influence, he said.
Defense attorney Christina DiEdoardo, however, argued that there was not enough evidence to prove that Ammons intended to murder Siglin.
First, DiEdoardo disputed that Ammons actually pulled the trigger on the gun.
Siglin testified that he did not hear the click of the trigger during the altercation. Instead, he heard the “click” when he watched the video after the incident.
DiEdoardo said the “click” heard in video could have come from a different source, such as equipment clanging together on the officer’s utility belt.
Additionally, the ammunition was loaded into the gun backwards, DiEdoardo said. Officers who later searched Ammons’ house found ammunition magazines loaded the correct way, showing that Ammons knew how to properly load a gun, she said.
DiEdoardo said that Ammons did not attempt to murder Siglin, as there is not enough proof that he pulled the trigger on the gun, and the ammunition was loaded backward — so the gun could not fire and harm the officer.
When a semiautomatic pistol is unloaded, it’s as lethal as a finger gun, DiEdoardo said while pointing a finger gun at the jury.
“Their entire theory is based on him pointing the gun,” she said. “And it’s a gun that can’t fire.”
Meanwhile, Ammons may not have been aware that Siglin was a police officer, DiEdoardo said.
Because his blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit, “it’s arguable that he doesn’t even know where he is,” DiEdoardo said.
If Ammons did not know that Siglin was a police officer attempting to pull him over, he may have been “scared” when Siglin opened his car door and then attempted to defend himself, she said.
DiEdoardo said that Siglin used unreasonable force and escalated the situation when he opened the door of the van.
“There wasn’t any reason to exacerbate the situation further,” she said.
If Siglin had waited for backup and attempted further communication with Ammons, the incident may have ended differently, she said.
During his rebuttal, however, Simoes said that the defense attorney contradicted herself during her closing argument.
She said Ammons was too drunk to understand that Siglin was a police officer attempting to arrest him, but aware enough of his surroundings to load the gun backwards so that he wouldn’t harm the officer when he pulled the trigger.
“You either understand things, or you don’t,” Simoes said.
He argued that Siglin’s ability to drive a car in a crowded place showed he was coherent enough to understand that Siglin was a police officer and to form a plan to murder him.
The jury will return to court on Monday afternoon for deliberations.