The man who shot to death Riverside police officers Phillip Trust and Dennis Doty in 1982 has died in state prison.
Jackson Chambers Daniels Jr., 86, died Aug. 16 at California Medical Facility in Vacaville, state corrections records show . He was receiving hospice care.
The Riverside Police Department and Riverside County District Attorney’s Office confirmed the death of Daniels on Oct. 14 after an inquiry by The Press-Enterprise.
Jackson Chambers Daniels Jr. watches during one of his trials. He was convicted of the 1982 murders of Riverside police officers Phillip Trust and Dennis Doty. Daniels died in state prison in Aug. 2024 at age 86. (The Press-Enterprise)
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The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it could not immediately provide details on his death, which was not listed in the agency’s database of deceased death row inmates. The CDCR did not explain why his death was never publicly announced.
Officers Trust, 36, and Doty, 35, were arresting Daniels on May 13, 1982, on a bank robbery warrant. Daniels, paralyzed and in a wheelchair after being shot by Riverside police during a bank robbery, pulled out a concealed weapon and shot the officers.
Daniels was convicted and sentenced to death. Eventually, both the conviction and the sentence were overturned by the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals because of ineffective and inexperienced counsel. In 2009 — 27 years after the murders — Daniels was tried and convicted again. He was again sentenced to death in 2010.
Dot and Trust are remembered in downtown Riverside at the Safe in His Arms memorial, on which the names of the Riverside County law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty are engraved. In 2012, the 21-acre Doty Trust Park opened in the La Sierra neighborhood.
Doty Trust Park, which opened in 2012, remains a lasting tribute to officers Dennis Doty and Phillip Trust, who were slain in 1982. (Brian Rokos, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
The park, popular with joggers and dog walkers, includes gazebos and a children’s play area. There are memorial plaques and words etched in concrete that describe the characters of the fallen officers: compassionate, honorable, responsible, dedicated, honest, committed, conscientious, fearless, dependable, courteous, trustworthy, reliable, professional, proud, respectful and brave.
