Murder Case’s Penalty Phase Ends in Mistrial

A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the penalty phase of the trial of a gang member convicted of killing a Woodland Hills man during a break-in at his home in 1988.

A Van Nuys Superior Court jury deliberating on whether to recommend the death penalty or life in prison without parole for Devin M. Feagin deadlocked 9 to 3 in favor of the life term.

Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz interviewed the jurors Tuesday and declared the mistrial after determining that it was unlikely that the jury would reach a decision. The jurors had been deliberating for about two weeks.

Feagin, 22, who police said is a South-Central Los Angeles gang member, was convicted of fatally shooting Howard King, 67, after Feagin and a co-defendant, Terrill Ross, 20, broke into King’s home and robbed him.

Ross was also convicted of murder but did not face the death penalty because he was a juvenile at the time of the slaying.

The district attorney’s office will announce May 31 if it will retry the penalty phase of the case. Deputy Dist. Atty. Antoinette Decker, who prosecuted Feagin and Ross, said that a committee of prosecutors will make the decision.

If there is no new trial, Feagin would receive a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

If the penalty phase is retried, a new jury must be selected and evidence from the trial presented again. The jury that deadlocked Tuesday was chosen in October and the trial lasted nearly four months.