JURY STALEMATE IN DEATH CASE CAUSES MISTRIAL TWO EX-CONVICTS ACCUSED.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- A mistrial was declared Tuesday in the trial of two ex-convicts accused of killing a man in his Lancaster home over what authorities said was a dispute over a drug deal.

The mistrial was called after an Antelope Valley Superior Court jury acquitted Dwayne Harris and Kyle McCombs of first-degree murder, and 11 of the jurors voted to convict the pair of second-degree murder while one held out for manslaughter.

``(Jurors) said there was a disagreement,'' Deputy District Attorney Robert Sherwood said. ``Eleven felt it was second-degree murder, and one felt it was manslaughter.''

The jury had deliberated five days following a two-week trial. A retrial was set for March 21.

Defense attorneys could not be reached for comment. Sherwood said the defense argued that the two men were not there when the killing occurred, and if jurors found they were present, that they acted in self-defense.

Harris, 25, and McCombs, 28, are accused in the January 2005 slaying of 22-year-old Eddie Ray Wheston, who was shot to death in the kitchen of the home he shared with his mother in the 800 block of West Avenue H-14.

``My argument was that it was a drug deal gone bad. We don't know the specifics. There was some evidence that there may have been a dispute over a drug deal,'' Sherwood said.

The Jan. 28 shooting occurred after Wheston, Harris and McCombs argued at Wheston's home, sheriff's deputies said.

At some point, the three walked into the kitchen where investigators believe McCombs and Harris began shooting at Wheston.

The two assailants fled through a rear kitchen door and sped off in a silver SUV that was later found in San Bernardino County.

Six days after Wheston's death, McCombs was arrested in Pasadena on suspicion of burglary and possession of a handgun in an unrelated case, officials said.

The murder charge was later filed against him.

Harris was arrested in October 2005 in Philadelphia by the FBI after homicide detectives obtained information that he was hiding there.

McCombs had been convicted at age 18 of vehicle theft and later of assault with a deadly weapon. He was released from state prison six months before Wheston's death.

Harris was on parole from prison when Wheston was killed and had stopped reporting to his parole officer, detectives said. Harris has a previous drug conviction from 2001, state records show.

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