Deadlocked Jury Ends Troiani Murder Trial : Ex-Marine, Final Defendant in the Slaying of Sergeant, to Be Tried Again in September

After a week of deliberations, jurors in the Kevin Watkins murder trial announced that they were hopelessly deadlocked, forcing a Superior Court judge to declare a mistrial. Watkins will get a new trial here in September.

Watkins, 23, is one of five former Marines charged with conspiring with Laura Troiani to kill her Marine sergeant husband in exchange for $500 each to come out of the victim’s life-insurance policy. Watkins is the only one of the Marines to be tried in connection with the 1984 murder of Staff Sgt. Carlo Troiani, who was an 18-year veteran of the Marine Corps.

The four other Marines pleaded guilty to a variety of charges and are serving prison sentences. Laura Troiani was convicted last year by a jury of first-degree murder, and is serving a term of life in prison without parole.

Citing their confusion over instructions, the jurors split widely over the five charges, without indicating whether the votes were in favor of or against conviction of Watkins. The votes were as follows: 4-2 on the count of first-degree murder, 6-6 on the charge of second-degree murder, 5-7 on conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and 7-5 on conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.

‘All Over the Map’

“I think this is an aberration,” said San Diego County Deputy Dist. Atty. Philip C. Walden, here to try the case. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my career. They were all over the map.”

This is the second time jurors have said they were at an impasse over the charges against Watkins. Last week, the jurors declared that they were deadlocked with a vote of 11 to 1. However, they had failed to vote on the individual charges. San Diego County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Nares ordered them to consider each count.

“This was the best that either side was going to get in terms of a jury verdict,” said defense attorney C. Bradley Patton. “I think it showed that evidence against Watkins was not strong.”

Walden vehemently disagreed with Patton’s view, citing the initial 11-1 vote, which he believes was in favor of conviction. Walden said he thought fatigue was more of a factor in the jurors’ final decision. “There was somebody in there who wasn’t going to listen to reason no matter what, and somehow wore them (the other jurors) out,” Walden said.

Judge Nares set the new trial to begin Sept. 12. Watkins was remanded to jail in San Diego to await the trial.

During two days on the witness stand, Watkins testified that he was forced by threat of death to participate in a failed attempt to kill Troiani, but balked at the last minute. After the failed attempt, the Marines and Troiani’s young wife succeeded in killing the victim by luring him to a secluded spot near Camp Pendleton on the pretext that his wife’s car was disabled. Watkins was not at the site of the murder.

After extensive publicity surrounding the trial of Troiani’s widow, Watkins’ trial was moved to Ventura on a change of venue.