VISTA -- In a reversal of a tentative ruling he issued last week, a Superior Court judge decided Thursday that the lawsuit a slain Oceanside police officer's widow filed against companies involved with making the officer's bullet-resistant vest can proceed to trial.

Judge Michael Anello wrote in a 15-page decision issued Thursday that Jamie Zeppetella's lawsuit raises triable issues for a jury to decide regarding whether the vest had a design defect and whether alleged degradation of the Zylon fiber used in the vest contributed to a bullet striking the slain officer.

The lawsuit against Michigan-based Second Chance Body Armor and the Japanese makers of Zylon fiber, Toyobo Co., is scheduled to go to trial in August.

Zeppetella's husband, Officer Tony Zeppetella, 27, was shot and killed while making a traffic stop June 13, 2003, in the parking lot of the Navy Federal Credit Union on Avenida de la Plata in Oceanside. Adrian George Camacho, a four-time convicted felon, was convicted of murdering Zeppetella and was sentenced to death for the crime. He is on California's death row.

Jamie Zeppetella said late Thursday afternoon that she was "relieved" and "happy" about Anello's decision.

"We're just really looking forward to moving forward," she said. "I'm just happy that the judge is giving us the opportunity for Tony to have a trial."

A U.S. spokesman for Toyobo, Kent Jarrell, said the company was disappointed that Anello did not uphold his tentative ruling, but that it will be ready for trial in August.

"We are confident the evidence will show that Zylon was not a factor in Officer Zeppetella's tragic murder," Jarrell said. "The real culprit is the convicted criminal who is now awaiting execution in San Quentin."

An attorney for Second Chance Body Armor could not be reached for comment.

Anello wrote in Thursday's ruling that only three of the 13 bullets that struck Tony Zeppetella had any contact with Zeppetella's vest, including one that did not penetrate the body armor. Two bullets hit the vest and Tony Zeppetella, but experts hired by both sides in the lawsuit disagree about whether the bullets actually penetrated the vest.

Jamie Zeppetella's lawsuit alleges the vest failed because of defective design, manufacturing and shipping and that the strength of Zylon fiber used in the vest decreases when exposed to light and humidity. The suit alleges the fiber degrades more quickly with the heat and humidity from a police officer's body when it is worn.

Second Chance Body Armor and Toyobo argued that the vest was not defective because the bullets struck it within three inches from the edge and that a National Institute of Justice standard for testing body armor does not consider shots that close to the edge of the vest to be "fair hits" that can be included in testing data, Anello wrote.

Anello ruled that "triable issues remain as to whether the hydrolitic degradation" alleged in the lawsuit "contributed to the penetration" of one of the bullets, which a forensic pathologist says is the only bullet that killed Tony Zeppetella.

Toyobo also argued that Jamie Zeppetella cannot prove a defect existed in Zylon and cannot show what the fiber's "tensile strength" was at the time Tony Zeppetella was shot, Anello wrote.

Anello ruled that Toyobo has the burden of proving that the vest "maintained its tensile strength."

Anello, however, granted Toyobo's request for judgment in its favor without a trial on a legal claim in the lawsuit alleging a breach of warranty.

Contact staff writer Scott Marshall at (760) 631-6623 or smarshall@nctimes.com.