ZAKARIAN TRIAL ENDS IN DEADLOCK.Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer A federal judge Wednesday 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 on the most serious charges against a former Glendale travel agent after the jury insisted it was hopelessly deadlocked dead·lock n. 1. A standstill resulting from the opposition of two unrelenting forces or factions. 2. Sports A tied score. 3. . A day earlier the jury had found Zakarian guilty of possessing a firearm firearm, device consisting essentially of a straight tube to propel shot, shell, or bullets by the explosion of gunpowder. Although the Chinese discovered gunpowder as early as the 9th cent., they did not develop firearms until the mid-14th cent. and a silencer without serial numbers. However, the jury deadlocked on charges of robbery, conspiracy and obstruction of interstate commerce interstate commerce In the U.S., any commercial transaction or traffic that crosses state boundaries or that involves more than one state. Government regulation of interstate commerce is founded on the commerce clause of the Constitution (Article I, section 8), which , prompting U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson to declare a mistrial. Prosecutors have not decided whether they will retry re·try tr.v. re·tried , re·try·ing, re·tries To try again. Verb 1. retry - hear or try a court case anew rehear Zakarian. The former travel agent was arrested in October 1994 on suspicion of murdering 42-year-old Benita Mikailian, a rival travel agent in Glendale. He spent more than a year in jail before he was acquitted by a Pasadena Superior Court jury in December. Prosecutors had claimed Zakarian shot Mikailian after robbing her of 80 airline tickets, which he needed for some 80 clients who were stranded in Paris en route to the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Despite the not-guilty verdict in his state trial, Zakarian was arrested by federal agents in March and charged with other crimes related to the Mikailian murder, including interfering with interstate commerce by robbing Mikailian and using ``physical violence'' in the course of the robbery. Despite deadlocking on the other charges, the jury found Zakarian guilty on the weapons charges, which carry maximum sentences of 10 years each. |
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