Judge Calls Mistrial in 6 1/2-Year-Old Murder Case

A mistrial was declared in the three-month murder trial of reputed gang member Virgil Byers, extending what is already the longest active criminal court case in Los Angeles County.

Superior Court Judge Clarence Stromwell made the decision after jury members insisted that they were hopelessly deadlocked 11 to 1 after deliberating for more than a month.

Byers is accused in two fatal drive-by shootings in the South-Central area in 1982. His case has lingered in the court system for a record 6 1/2 years, mainly because the defendant kept changing attorneys, officials said.

Last week, the jury sent several notes to the judge indicating that members were having a problem reaching a unanimous verdict. While 11 of the jurors voted guilty on all five felony counts, one woman juror disagreed.

4 Jury Ballots

On the first ballot a month ago, jurors voted 6 to 6. Subsequent ballots were 9 to 3 and 10 to 2 in favor of conviction. For the last week, votes have been 11 to 1.

A conference is scheduled Tuesday to see if the case can be resolved without a retrial. One possibility would be a reduced sentence in lieu of another trial.

“I don’t know yet what leeway we will have in negotiations,” said Assistant Dist. Atty. Loren Naiman, who prosecuted the case. “We are extremely disappointed. But I’m prepared to try this thing until a verdict is reached if we have to. Obviously 11 jurors thought he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

‘Not Disappointed’

Byers’ attorney, Joel Isaacson, said, “I’m not disappointed that it was a hung jury. I look forward to trying the case again and am optimistic that the next trial will result in an acquittal.”

Whatever happens with the case, Byers, 26, will not get out of jail soon.

In the 6 1/2 years that the drive-by shootings case has meandered through the legal system--it takes up nearly 10 pages in the county clerk’s docket book--Byers became involved in a jail fight and was sentenced last year to 12 years in prison for attempted murder.

In the murder case, Byers is accused of killing two members of the Bloods gang May 3, 1982. In the first of the drive-by shootings, Cornelius Harris and a friend were sitting in a car in the 4500 block of Pinafore Street when an assailant opened fire from a car, police said. Harris was killed and his friend wounded. Ten minutes later, a few blocks away on LaSalle Avenue, Jody Hayes was killed and two others wounded by bullets from a passing car.

Three months later, police received a phone call from Byers who admitted killing the men, court records show.

Byers’ firing of the six attorneys, one of whom he had threatened, was the reason it took so long for the case to go to trial, officials said.

The case was supposed to go to trial in July, 1984, but Byers petitioned the state Court of Appeal to have his six-hour confession to police suppressed because he said he was under the influence of PCP at that time.

The appeal was denied, but since then, portions of the confession were ruled to have been improperly obtained. A judge found that at a certain point in his interrogation, Byers exercised his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.