San Diego

Jury deliberations are to resume today in the retrial of Deputy Dist. Atty. Wayne Mayer, who is charged with petty theft in the stealing of some tools from a pickup truck.

Jurors in San Diego Municipal Court deliberated 45 minutes Monday before going home after the attorneys presented their closing arguments.

Mayer, 41, a 10-year veteran of the district attorney’s office who was a prosecutor in the Sagon Penn retrial, is on paid administrative leave.

Mayer offered testimony last week similar to his first trial, saying he was too intoxicated to know whether he took the tools June 14 in De Anza Cove. He testified that he found a power saw and drill in his home the next day and returned the tools to the Attorney General’s office in August.

The jury in the first trial deadlocked 9-3 for conviction.

“He was there to steal, whether he was drinking or not,” argued Deputy Atty. General John Swan.

“This is obviously a planned, deliberate act,” Swan said.

Mayer’s attorney, Peter Hughes, argued that the theft was irrational.

“This is not rational, thought-out conduct,” Hughes said.

Hughes said the parking lot was crowded during the daylight theft, and no rational person would have committed such a theft, especially one like Mayer, who is 6-foot-4 and would stand out.

Mayer’s attorney suggested that such an incident could be interpreted as Mayer’s way of “calling out for help.”

Hughes urged jurors to acquit Mayer.