Jurors Agree on Life Term for Murderer

Jurors who previously said they were deadlocked voted Wednesday to recommend that a murderer be given a life sentence without the possibility of parole instead of the death penalty.

Allen Bloom, the attorney for Keith Shawn Cosby, 29, of San Diego hung his head onto his client’s shoulders in relief as the verdict was read in San Diego Superior Court.

On Monday, jurors reported to Judge David Gill that they were deadlocked, 7-5, after discussing Cosby’s fate for three days. But Gill told them to continue their deliberations after three jurors said they might reach a verdict if given more time.

The same jury convicted Cosby Oct. 28 of two first-degree murder and robbery counts involving the 1985 deaths of two store clerks.

After the panel delivered its recommendation, one juror, who didn’t want to be identified, said jurors were divided Monday in favor of a life-without-parole verdict.

After Gill sent them back in to deliberate, four jurors changed their death verdicts to life Monday, and they took a fifth ballot, making it 11-1 in favor of life, she said.

The jurors had Tuesday off, and the one who favored the death penalty changed his mind in 90 minutes Wednesday, making it a unanimous verdict.

Cosby displayed rare emotion during his trial, which began in March. He had to be subdued by bailiffs before the reading of the verdict.

Apparently fearing the worst, Cosby told the judge he did not want to be present for the reading of the verdict. Bloom tried to have his client’s presence waived for that portion of the trial.

“This is my life. I don’t want to look in the (jurors’) eyes,” Cosby told the judge.

Gill declined after Deputy Dist. Atty. Steve Annear argued that Cosby’s presence was needed for the record.

Cosby then tried to rise from his seat and tried to knock over the defense table, spilling papers onto the floor. A deputy marshal put him in a headlock, and another quickly handcuffed him.

The verdict was read a few minutes later, with two deputy marshals hovering over Cosby. Sentencing was set for Dec. 21.

The first murder was that of an AM/PM mini-market clerk, Fred Harb, 49, who was shot June 1, 1985, on University Avenue. The second murder was that of Kenneth Muck, 55, at the Aztec Liquor Store on El Cajon Boulevard on Aug. 26, 1985. Harb was shot, strangled with a necktie, stabbed four times, and bludgeoned, according to Annear. Muck was stabbed 37 times.

Prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty against a co-defendant, Terry Bemore, 32, in the same crimes. He will receive a trial date Dec. 1.

Bloom said that Cosby has an IQ of 90 and suffered from brain injuries from a skull fracture when he was 3 years old.

The jury hung on two special-circumstance allegations, which contend that Muck was tortured and was killed during a robbery. Gill set a hearing for Dec. 1 to resolve those counts or schedule a retrial if the D.A.’s office decides to retry those allegations.

The jury also found two special-circumstance allegations not true.