Untroubled by Rumbling Dispute : Conscience Is Clear, Says Juror Who Backed Mayor

City employee Leon Crowder, the lone juror whose staunch belief in Mayor Roger Hedgecock’s innocence saved Hedgecock from a felony conviction and forced a mistrial this week, is not fretting over the controversy he created.

Crowder said Thursday that he went home with a clear conscience and slept soundly after a Superior Court judge determined that, because of Crowder, jury deliberations were hopelessly deadlocked and that the case would have to be heard again.

During deliberations, the 11 other panel members voted to convict Hedgecock on conspiracy and perjury charges.

But Crowder refused to go along with them, saving Hedgecock by what prosecutors described as “the skin of his teeth.”

It was an unlikely role for the soft-spoken and religious Crowder, a 37-year-old garbage collections supervisor who has a taste for fine clothes and gold jewelry (he wears five rings).

Crowder said he slept peacefully Wednesday night, untroubled by the rumbling dispute attributed to him. He said he awoke refreshed at 4:30 a.m. Thursday and, as is his habit, spent half an hour sipping herbal tea and reading the Old Testament (“II Chronicles”) before driving from his house in east San Diego to his job at the Rose Canyon sanitation plant.

Crowder supervises five garbage collection trucks during the winter and six in the summer.

Upon returning to work after nearly three months on jury duty, Crowder found himself somewhat the hero. He received several congratulatory telephone calls, and co-workers expressed admiration that he would stand by his beliefs. But their admiration for Crowder’s courage did not stop them from gently kidding him.

“I heard a couple of the guys ask him if he planned on being promoted soon to city manager and stuff like that,” said fellow supervisor Dick Tato. “He seemed to take it pretty well, and everybody got a good laugh.”

However, not all of Crowder’s co-workers were as good-humored.

“Everybody should stand up for their convictions, but there should have been a conviction in this case,” one said. “This trial lasted for months and for what? The other jurors said he wouldn’t listen to reason, and I believe them. Leon can be pretty stubborn when he wants to.”

Crowder admitted that he is often rigid in his beliefs.

‘God Teaches Us . . .’

“God teaches us to be fair and to be accurate and to be a righteous people,” he said. “If you believe in something deeply, it would be dishonest to turn away from that feeling.”

The rest of his day--except for the myriad of interviews he patiently granted to reporters--was spent normally. He drove a city-owned pickup truck to Clairemont to help dispatch refuse collection trucks before knocking off work at 3 p.m. No citizens ridiculed him; no one recognized him, even though his face has been splashed across the front pages of local newspapers and displayed prominently on local television stations.

Crowder said he believes that Hedgecock owes him nothing. Accordingly, Crowder said, he was not surprised or upset when Hedgecock failed to call him Thursday offering gratitude.

But if Hedgecock had telephoned, Crowder said he might have considered imparting a bit of advice: “For his own good, the mayor ought to find God. And the sooner, the better . . . that’s the only way he or anyone else will be able to enter the kingdom of God.”

Crowder said he became “born again” two years ago after watching a television evangelist.

It was the “Holy Spirit” that convinced him of Hedgecock’s innocence, Crowder said. The juror also credited his religious beliefs with bolstering him against the pressure applied by the other deliberators, who insisted that Hedgecock was guilty.

Prayed for Divine Guidance

Some panel members have accused Crowder of sleeping during deliberations and refusing to examine evidence presented during the trial--allegations Crowder repeatedly denied.