SNIPER JURY ACQUITS ONE, HANGS ON ANOTHER.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

The trial of two Lancaster men accused in the 2002 sniper-style shooting that killed a nightclub manager and wounded three others ended Monday in an acquittal of one defendant and a mistrial for the other.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury acquitted Faiz ``Tony'' Munassar of all charges and hung 9-3 - with the nine favoring acquittal - on the charges against co-defendant Zamaad ``Gary'' Zomalt, Zomalt's attorney said.

``The (prosecutors) are going to have to take a jury that's already leaned toward acquittal, and they are going to have to do something with the evidence that's out there, and try to turn it around and try to create a conviction out of it,'' said Zomalt's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Fred Gagliardini. ``That's a very difficult thing to do.''

Deputy District Attorney Robert Foltz indicated he intends to retry Zomalt on the deadlocked counts, Gagliardini said. A court hearing in the case is scheduled for April 7 in Antelope Valley Superior Court, Gagliardini said.

Munassar's attorney, Ira Salzman, and Foltz could not be reached for comment.

The jury had deliberated three days last week and all of Monday, Gagliardini said.

Prosecutors contended that Zomalt handed a rifle to friend Munassar to shoot at Schooner's because Zomalt believed his estranged wife was having an affair with someone connected with the nightclub.

Ironically, Zomalt's wife was having an affair with Munassar, according to testimony, prosecutors said.

Zomalt, 32, and Munassar, 27, pleaded not guilty to charges of fatally shooting Marshall Garrison, 41, who was night manager and booked entertainment for Schooner's, and wounding the others.

A father of two children, Garrison was an Antelope Valley Boys & Girls Club board member as well as a youth soccer coach and referee.

The shots were fired from about 80 yards away, with one bullet hitting Garrison in the temple. Other bullets hit an employee in both arms, grazed another employee on the head and hit a patron in the back.

Munassar and Zomalt were arrested in December 2004, more than 2 1/2 years after the April 21, 2002, shooting.

A third man, 25-year-old Brian Lewis of Lancaster, also was charged but on Friday was placed on probation after pleading no contest to being an accessory to the shooting.

As part of the case settlement, Lewis agreed to testify against Zomalt and Munassar. Lewis testified that he drove Zomalt to the Schooner's parking lot, where prosecutors say Zomalt handed the rifle to Munassar to shoot at the nightclub's front entrance.

Lewis testified tha Zomalt put the rifle up to his neck and ordered him to drive out of the parking lot after the shooting.

Salzman said earlier that no evidence was presented positively identifying his client as the sniper. While the prosecution said an eyewitness identified Munassar as the shooter, Salzman said the witness did not positively identify Munassar but only said he looked similar to the gunman.

Gagliardini said the eyewitness testified that Zomalt was not the shooter and that she did not see him at the shooting scene.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com