El Cajon

The jury determining whether Toufic Naddi was sane or insane when he killed five family members in El Cajon was deadlocked Thursday.

The jury foreman issued a note that read: “We are unable to reach a verdict in this case.”

Responding to questions from San Diego Superior Court Judge Terry O’Rourke, the jury foreman said jurors were split 11 to 1 and they had taken two votes. O’Rourke told the foreman not to say which way they were split.

O’Rourke read the note in court and asked the jurors whether further deliberations might help them reach a verdict. Eight jurors said it might, so the judge ordered them back into deliberations.

They were to deliberate only half a day today, which will mark their seventh day of discussions on the sanity question.

This is in marked contrast to the ease in which they convicted Naddi, 47, of El Cajon, on June 8 of five first-degree murder verdicts. They found Naddi guilty after only two hours.

The jury heard conflicting opinions from psychiatrists over Naddi’s mental state in the June 1, 1985, slayings of his wife, her parents, her cousin and her brother-in-law.

Three psychiatrists for the prosecution said Naddi was sane and knew what he was doing was wrong; three defense psychiatrists said he was insane.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Boles said his office will retry Naddi on the sanity question if the jury remains deadlocked and a mistrial is declared.

If he is found insane, he will be committed to a state mental hospital. If Naddi is found sane, the jury will deliberate on whether he should be put to death or spend the rest of his life in prison.