Reluctant Juror Let Off; Deliberations Start Over

After nine days of deliberation, the jury in the Horace Burns murder trial was forced to begin its work anew Wednesday after a reluctant juror, who had earlier threatened to walk out on the panel without permission, was officially excused.

George Dowell, 72, was dismissed from the panel by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz after the retired firefighter submitted a doctor’s note recommending that Dowell take two weeks off to recover from hypertension.

Last week, after Dowell’s initial dismissal request was denied by Munoz when the juror conceded that he was not under a doctor’s care, the juror told the judge, “I’m an old man. I don’t need this. . . . I may just not show up tomorrow.”

Dowell did, however, continue deliberations in the case involving the mistaken-identity shooting deaths of four members of the family of former UCLA football star Kermit Alexander.

An alternate juror was selected after Dowell was dismissed. Munoz then instructed the panel that, under the law, they must begin the discussion of Burns’ fate again.

“You must set aside and disregard the earlier deliberations as if they did not take place,” the judge told the eight-woman, four-man jury.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Sterling E. Norris, who has appeared somewhat disappointed by the jury’s delay in reaching a verdict, said he was not chagrined about Dowell’s dismissal, because the court had no alternative once the doctor’s note was received. Moreover, the prosecutor added, Dowell had seemed nervous during recent courtroom appearances.

Burns, 20, is accused of having waited in a van outside a South-Central Los Angeles home last August while two fellow defendants, who will be tried separately, entered the residence of Alexander’s mother, Ebora, 58, and fatally shot her, his sister Dietra, 24, and his nephews, Damani Garner, 13, and Damon Bonner, 8.