Parks (Once Penn) Is Jailed

Meecee Parks, formerly known as Sagon Penn, was taken into custody Thursday after being sentenced to 360 days in County Jail for battery and violating probation.

Superior Court Judge Herbert J. Exarhos sentenced Parks to 180 days each for the misdemeanor battery conviction and for violating probation for a prior conviction on malicious mischief. The judge also sentenced Parks to five years’ probation.

Parks was convicted in November of three felony counts stemming from altering court documents, specifically a temporary restraining order that was changed to make it appear that the new boyfriend of his former girlfriend would be prohibited from visiting the woman.

Actually, the order was issued to keep Parks away from her.

Maurice Bell, who is now married to Parks’ former girlfriend, was the victim in the battery case. The malicious-mischief conviction in 1989 stemmed from an incident in which Parks wrecked a motorcycle belonging to another boyfriend.

Parks’ attorney, Mary Franklin, acknowledged that her client suffers from emotional problems, and she asked the judge to order in-patient psychiatric care instead of prison.

Parks gained notoriety when he was known as Sagon Penn in 1985 at two widely publicized trials. Then, he was accused of fatally shooting San Diego police Officer Thomas Riggs, wounding Officer Donovan Jacobs and passenger Sarah Pina-Ruiz during what was characterized as a racially motivated police stop.

Parks was acquitted of all major charges.