Mistrial Declared in Shooting of Sister-in-Law
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The trial of a Burbank man accused of shooting his sister-in-law during a domestic dispute ended in a hung jury Thursday.
A San Fernando Superior Court jury told Judge Bruce J. Sottile that, after deliberating for 2 1/2 days, it was hopelessly deadlocked 8 to 4 in favor of convicting Ronald Vincent Whitfield.
Whitfield, 30, was arrested Dec. 28 on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly shot Chantay Johnson when she intervened in a marital dispute.
Johnson testified that she is permanently paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the shooting.
Whitfield’s wife had invited her sister to the couple’s house to help persuade Whitfield that his former girlfriend should leave the house.
Whitfield said after the proceedings that his ex-girlfriend has chosen not to go to the house any more and that his three-year marriage remains intact.
A new trial is scheduled for March 27.
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