DEADLOCK SPURS NEW TRIAL JURORS SPLIT ON MURDER CHARGES.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer LANCASTER - A Lancaster landlord accused in the shooting death of a tenant will be retried re·tried v. Past tense and past participle of retry. after his first trial ended with jurors deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal on a first-degree murder charges. Alvan Adams, 48, was charged with murder in the Feb. 21 slaying of 41-year-old Eugene Rufus Newbern, who was shot several times with a handgun in the home Adams shared with Newbern, Newbern's girlfriend and a third boarder. ``Because of the serious nature of the charges, I feel there's a reasonable chance a jury will reach a verdict in this case,'' Deputy District Attorney Robert Sherwood said Thursday. Alhambra Superior Court Judge Jaime Corral corral a small fenced-in enclosure with high, wooden fences, suitable for holding cattle or horses. corral system a management system in which range cattle are put into corrals and fed hay for a period when the environment is most declared a mistrial A courtroom trial that has been terminated prior to its normal conclusion. A mistrial has no legal effect and is considered an invalid or nugatory trial. It differs from a "new trial," which recognizes that a trial was completed but was set aside so that the issues could be Wednesday after jurors said they were unable to reach a verdict. Sherwood said the jurors were split on the first-degree murder charge as well as the lesser charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter The act of unlawfully killing another human being unintentionally. Most unintentional killings are not murder but involuntary manslaughter. The absence of the element of intent is the key distinguishing factor between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. . ``Some thought it was justifiable self-defense, some thought it was involuntary manslaughter,'' Deputy Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was Roberto Dager said. The trial began Nov. 13, and the jury began deliberations Monday, Sherwood said. Adams, who is being held in lieu of $980,000 bail, is scheduled to return Tuesday to Lancaster Superior Court for a hearing on Adams possibly retaining a different lawyer. The trial was heard in Alhambra because of court congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. in Lancaster. Newbern was shot after an argument with Adams, from whom the victim and his girlfriend rented a room in a house in the 3300 block of East Avenue K-4. Homicide investigators said Adams had asked Newbern to move out, but Newbern had just paid the rent and refused to move. |
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