A Downtown Los Angeles courtroom held jury selection Monday for the 12 jurors and six alternates who will decide the fate of Kevin Eduardo Cataneo Salazar, the man accused of shooting and killing Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer.
Clinkunbroomer, a fourth-generation deputy who graduated from West Ranch High, was murdered in the line of duty Sept. 16, 2023, fatally shot near the back of his head in a car-to-car shooting.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s office is charging Salazar with a special-circumstances murder in connection with the deputy’s death, making Salazar eligible for life without parole, if he’s convicted.
Salazar has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges.
L.A. County Superior Court Judge Ronald S, Coen admonished the jury Monday, before ordering everyone back for trial to begin on the following Monday, Aug. 17.
Pretrial filings from both sides gave an indication of what jurors can expect to hear about over the next four to six weeks, the expected length of the trial.
Prosecution
The “people’s guilt phase, statement of facts and witness list” filed Monday laid out what prosecutors think happened in the days, hours and minutes leading up to Clinkunbroomer’s death.
The first thing mentioned in the filings is two prosecution witnesses who plan to testify to encounters they had with the defendant near the location and time of the shooting.
The defendant had recently purchased the .22-caliber revolver used in the fatal shooting, according to the prosecution, and had practiced at a range with the revolver.
One witness, who identified Salazar to investigators after the shooting, said the defendant yelled at him in a car-to-car verbal confrontation that Salazar initiated about 10 minutes before the shooting, a block from where it happened.
“As Deputy Clinkunbroomer approached the red light at Sierra Highway and Avenue Q, (Salazar’s) Toyota rapidly closed the distance. It slowed almost to a stop behind the patrol SUV and remained there while an opposing southbound vehicle passed. With the opposing lane clear, the Toyota moved left from behind the patrol SUV until the Toyota’s passenger side was beside the deputy’s driver side,” according to the prosecution’s statement.
Salazar then allegedly fired one shot that entered behind Clinkunbroomer’s left ear. There was no exit wound, according to court records.
Salazar then drove off, heading north through a red light, away from the sheriff’s station.
Clinkunbroomer was found moments later at the intersection by a passing motorist, who ran into the adjacent Palmdale Sheriff’s Station yelling “Officer down,” according to the prosecution’s account.
Deputies rushed to Clinkunbroomer’s patrol SUV, then intercepted an ambulance near Avenue N and brought the wounded deputy to the hospital, according to the statement filed by Deputy District Attorney David Ayvazian, one of two prosecutors listed on the case in court records.
L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Special Enforcement Bureau deputies took Salazar into custody two days later after an hourslong standoff.
He was read his Miranda rights and admitted to the murder, according to the prosecution’s case statement.
Defense
Salazar’s attorney, George Rosenstock, filed a 180-page pretrial brief stating the defense’s plan to present “three qualified mental health professionals, each of whom independently evaluated defendant,” and will testify Salazar met the state’s standard for insanity at the time of the shooting.
“Their conclusions are unanimous, well-supported, and based upon personal examinations of defendant, review of extensive records, collateral information and application of the legal standard governing insanity in California,” according to Rosenstock’s statement to the court.
He indicated Salazar “struggled with schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations, paranoia and disorganized thoughts for years prior” to the incident.
He mentions all three reports.
The first report indicated (the defendant’s) actions “were driven by a distorted perception of reality and a delusional belief that he was acting out of necessity, rather than a conscious decision to commit a morally wrongful act.”
The second report “concluded that the defendant suffers from DSM-5 diagnoses of schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder, in sustained remission, that he knew the nature and quality of the acts he was doing, but did not know the moral wrongfulness of his act and, therefore, met the legal criteria for insanity,” according to the defense.
The report mentions that prior to the shooting, “Salazar had a building crescendo of paranoia that various technological methods were being used by law enforcement to control and/or harass him.”
The third expert referenced Salazar’s history of “hospitalizations and pathology.”
Prelude to trial
The trial expected to begin Monday is being held in Downtown L.A. because the Antelope Valley Courthouse didn’t have the space available for a trial of this length, according to previous filings, which also note the case is expected to generate significant media attention.
The Clinkunbroomer family sued Los Angeles County in the months after the murder, claiming the massive amounts of overtime he was working, more than 100 hours a month, violated department policy and created a safety hazard.
Judge Lynne Hobbs ultimately found for the county and the Sheriff’s Department in April 2025.
Hobbs felt the arguments failed to overcome the “qualified immunity that protects government officials performing discretionary functions.”
There was no compensation awarded to the family in the case.
On the two-year anniversary of his death in September, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion by 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger to rename the Castaic Sports Complex in honor of Clinkunbroomer.
In November, Rep. George Whitesides, D-Agua Dulce, authored HR 6164, to name the Castaic Post Office after Clinkunbroomer. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
