Saying she feared “all hell” had broken loose among jurors, a judge declared a mistrial Thursday on dozens of remaining counts against five former elected officials who had been convicted the day before of looting a working-class Los Angeles suburb.
Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy took the action after the 12-member panel struggled to decide 42 counts against the former mayor and four former members of the Bell City Council.
On Wednesday, the panel convicted the five of a total of 21 counts of misappropriating public funds and acquitted them on 21 other counts. A sixth former official was acquitted of all charges….
It doesn’t sound too much like the judge or the prosecutors will wish to retry the (criminal) case. And this doesn’t bode too well for getting any kind of justice in a potential civil case against any of these former city “officials.”
This case illustrates a typical “jury of your peers” in the County of Los Angeles, IMHO…. brought to you by the Clara Shortridge Foltz “Hall of Results.”
