Retiree’s Conviction on 6 Counts Stands : Jury Deadlocks on 2 Charges in Child-Molesting Trial

A mistrial was declared Thursday after a San Fernando Superior Court jury failed to reach a verdict on two final charges against a retired Lockheed engineer convicted on Wednesday of molesting a 9-year-old girl placed in his care.

The two additional charges against Wallace W. Fisher, 69, stemmed from the alleged molestation of another child, a 7-year-old girl who lived near his North Hollywood home. Fisher was convicted of five counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child and one count of taking photographs of nude children, including many of his 5-year-old granddaughter, with the intent to distribute the pictures.

Fisher, known for giving candy to neighborhood children, was acquitted of three counts of kidnaping with the intent to molest a child and one count of possessing obscene photographs with the intent to distribute them.

Jurors told Judge Howard J. Schwab on Wednesday that they were deadlocked on the two charges involving the 7-year-old, but Schwab ordered them to continue their deliberations on Thursday.

Schwab declared a mistrial on the remaining charges after the jurors said they were deadlocked 9 to 3 in favor of convicting Fisher on an additional count of lewd and lascivious conduct, and 8 to 4 in favor of convicting him for one count of sodomy with a foreign object.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Pamela Davis-Springer said she would talk with the girl and her mother before deciding whether to seek a new trial.

Fisher could receive as much as 16 1/2 years in state prison when he appears for sentencing on March 6.