Gionis Case Mistrial : Accused in Assault on Aissa Wayne

A mistrial was declared today after jurors failed to reach a verdict in an assault case that prosecutors allege stemmed from a bitter custody dispute over the late actor John Wayne’s granddaughter.

Jurors deliberated for four days in the case of Dr. Thomas A. Gionis, 37, charged with eight felony counts in the Oct. 3, 1988, assault on his ex-wife, Aissa Wayne, before splitting 9-3 in favor of conviction.

After the mistrial was declared, prosecutors, citing the majority in favor of conviction, announced that Gionis will be tried again. Shortly after noon, Superior Court Judge Theodore E. Millard set Jan. 24 as the date for further court proceedings.

The hung jury “means that I am still innocent,” Gionis said this morning. He remains free pending the new trial. An orthopedic surgeon from Pomona, Gionis declined further comment.

Aissa Wayne was beaten and a companion, financier Roger W. Luby, was slashed in the attack that took place in Newport Beach.

Prosecutors claim Gionis, involved in a bitter custody battle with Aissa Wayne over their then-1-year-old daughter, ordered the assault through a private investigator. During the trial, Gionis claimed he had nothing to do with the attack. The investigator and two gunmen have all admitted their roles.

After the mistrial was declared, jurors said they had no hope of agreeing.

“Most of us thought that the prosecutor’s argument about what happened was reasonable,” one juror said. “But we were never going to convince those other three jurors.”

Earlier today, the jury foreman told Millard that they were hopelessly deadlocked. But Millard sent the jurors back to deliberate when one said further talks might produce a verdict. Less than an hour later, Millard declared the mistrial.

In closing arguments last week, Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans reviewed key evidence of almost 40 telephone calls that took place among the four alleged co-conspirators in the case--Gionis, private investigator O. Dan Gal of Century City, and the two assailants, Jerrel Hintergardt of Burbank and Jeffrey K. Bouey of Simi Valley--before and after the assault.

The prosecutor argued that the records showed close communication among Gionis and the assailants at the time of the attack.

Hintergardt, 39, who admitted he used a knife to slash Luby’s Achilles’ tendon but denied smashing Aissa Wayne’s face into a concrete floor, is serving an eight-year prison sentence following his conviction at a separate trial.

Gionis, a highly successful physician, faced the same charges as Hintergardt and could receive that same maximum sentence if convicted.

Bouey, 38, who also admitted his role, is expected to plea-bargain in exchange for his testimony against Hintergardt and Gionis.

Gal, 34, has also agreed to cooperate with authorities, but he is awaiting trial and his status as a witness in the case remains unclear. He was not called by prosecutors to testify against Hintergardt.

Gal had been hired by Gionis several months before the assault to conduct surveillance on Aissa Wayne, who had temporary custody of the child while a permanent custody hearing was pending, prosecutor Evans told jurors.

Gionis’ attorney, John D. Barnett, had argued that the evidence was not enough to convict his client of participation in the attack.

The daughter, Anastasia, is in the temporary custody of her mother.