Mistrial Declared 3rd Time in Murderer’s Sanity Case

For the third time, a mistrial was declared Thursday in the sanity trial of convicted murderer Toufic Naddi after jurors admitted reading newspaper articles about the case.

The prosecutor said afterward he will go ahead with a fourth trial to determine whether Naddi, 49, of El Cajon, was sane when he killed five family members in 1985 and then to recommend his punishment if he is found sane.

A new trial date will be set on Feb. 6.

Naddi’s murder convictions from June, 1988, still stand. The victims were his wife, her parents, her cousin and her brother-in-law.

Superior Court Judge Terry O’Rourke said he was displeased with jurors who admitted reading front-page articles in the San Diego Union and Tribune several days ago about Naddi’s jailhouse wedding to paralegal Carol Moore.

O’Rourke described jurors’ reactions to the news of Naddi’s marriage as ranging from “surprise to shock.”

O’Rourke said the jury had been admonished not to read newspaper articles on the case.

Defense attorneys Hodge Crabtree and Beverly Barrett also complained that the front page of the Union had a picture of another convicted killer, Dean Carter, who was sentenced to death for three murders in Los Angeles.

“The implication is that, if Mr. Carter deserves it for three (murders), Mr. Naddi deserves it for five,” Barrett argued.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Bob Boles responded that “it seems logical to me that the jury could know they are not the same cases. There are a lot of things on the front page.”

The judge said half the jury and alternates either had read the story or the headline about the Naddi wedding.

The prosecutor argued that the news of Naddi’s marriage was not information that would prejudice a jury.

But the judge said “a reaction of shock” from jurors about Naddi’s marriage could not be cured with a warning.