Mistrial in Death by a Mercedes : Court: Jurors deadlocked 10 to 2 to convict Betty Young Davies of vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run driving in the death of her stepdaughter’s husband. No decision has been made yet on a retrial.

A mistrial was declared Friday in the manslaughter trial of a Lido Isle woman accused of running down her stepdaughter’s husband with her Mercedes-Benz after the jury announced it could not reach a verdict.

After five days of deliberations, the jurors deadlocked 10 to 2 to convict Betty Young Davies, 60, of vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run driving in the Dec. 19, 1989, death of James Ward, 31, in front of his home on Congress Street in Costa Mesa.

Superior Court Judge James K. Turner ordered Davies to return Monday for the setting of a new trial date. The prosecution, however, said no decision has been made on whether to retry the case.

One of the two jurors who voted not guilty, Randy Roe of Huntington Beach, angrily declared afterward that the jury majority had been on “a witch hunt.”

“The foreman walked in the jury room the first day, slammed a finger down on the desk and said, ‘This woman should have been charged with murder.’ That set the tone for the others, and they never once reviewed the evidence,” Roe said.

Jury foreman Joe Schweppe of Westminster denied the allegation.

“But I have nothing negative to say about those two (holdout jurors),” Schweppe said. “They did what they thought was right. That’s the way our system works.”

Davies, who admitted in her testimony that she had been harassing James Ward and her stepdaughter, Wendy Ward, said: “(The jurors who voted for conviction) are just wrong. I was telling the truth.”

Prosecutors contended that Davies, who had been lurking outside the Wards’ home the night James Ward was killed, got upset when he confronted her.

Prosecutors said that as he stood in front of Davies’ maroon 500 SEL Mercedes-Benz and demanded to know why she was harassing them, she drove the car into him, throwing him onto the hood and causing him to slam into the windshield.

Ward died three days later of head injuries he suffered when he was thrown from the hood of the moving car.

Davies, however, testified that Ward jumped onto the hood of her car and began banging on her windshield. She said she drove off scared and unaware that he was injured.

Wendy Ward, 31, who witnessed the incident, said after the jury deadlock: “She lied. She lied big-time. At least 10 jurors didn’t believe her.”

Wendy Ward testified that her stepmother gunned the motor while James Ward stood in front of the car and then deliberately ran into him. She also testified that Davies never slowed the Mercedes-Benz down while her husband desperately tried to cling to the hood of the car.

It remains unclear why Davies, who is married to Wendy Ward’s father, John Davies, had been harassing the couple. Davies admitted calling the couple’s home and then hanging up on them without letting them know who was on the line. The Wards called the police several times about Davies’ alleged harassment.

Davies apparently was upset with Wendy Ward because she had befriended a woman who was seeing Davies’ son, Jeff, a relationship of which Davies disapproved.

Davies admitted on the witness stand that, at her family’s urging, she had seen a psychiatrist to discuss her attitude toward Wendy Ward.

She said she may have gone to the Wards’ home that night because she was curious about what type of house they had bought.

One juror called Davies “a rich Newport Beach woman who thought she could get away with anything.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lew Rosenblum told the jurors that he has made no final decision on whether to retry Davies.

“A part of me wants to,” he said. “But another part of me wonders if we can ever get 12 jurors who can see through all these things (the defense) throws into this.”

The jurors spent part of the first four days of deliberations having Wendy Ward’s and part of Davies’ testimony re-read. On Friday morning, they told Judge Turner it was useless to deliberate any further.

Roe, one of the holdouts for a not-guilty verdict, said that some of the jury majority made personal attacks on him and the other holdout, also a man. The two are both in their 20s.

“They said we were just holding out because we wanted to stay off work longer,” Roe said. “I’m glad we didn’t give in to their pressure.”

Several of the other jurors denied that any such comments had been made.

Wendy Ward and other family members did not arrive in court until after the jury had been dismissed. Juror Robert Gallagher, 67, of Huntington Beach hugged her and told her he was sorry they couldn’t reach a verdict.

Some of the jurors expressed anger at defense attorney Marshall M. Schulman, who expressed his displeasure with prosecutor Rosenblum throughout the trial.

“My only comment is that next time, I hope we get a jury that will take time to go through the evidence,” Schulman replied.

Rosenblum thanked jury members for their patience in the six-week trial. One juror had to return to work because his company would no longer pay him while the trial was going on. To accommodate his night work schedule, the other jurors agreed to come in early for their deliberations so he could make it to work on time.

“I’m just sorry those (holdout jurors) couldn’t see what really happened here,” Rosenblum said.