Hung Jury Brings Tense End to Baby-Sitter’s Murder Trial : Justice: Debra Cummings was accused of killing a child she was watching. Anger erupts outside courtroom after the mistrial is declared.

The trial of a former PTA president charged with murdering a 9-month-old boy she was baby-sitting ended in a deadlock Tuesday, setting off an emotional outburst of tears, screams and furious confrontations among jurors, participants and the defendant’s family.

Climaxing a three-month trial and eight days of deliberations, a Van Nuys Superior Court judge declared a mistrial in the case against Debra Suzanne Cummings, 34, of Reseda after the jury declared itself hopelessly deadlocked 7 to 5 for acquittal.

Prosecutors said they would ask for a new trial for Cummings, who also faces a manslaughter charge in a separate case involving a 14-month-old boy who died in her care.

The tension of the trial erupted Tuesday outside the courtroom after the jury was excused, when a juror began hyperventilating and was forced to lie down on a hallway bench. The juror had a similar attack during deliberations, according to other jurors.

Meanwhile, Cummings and members of her family rushed out of the courtroom, pushing past television and newspaper cameras. “You’ve had enough pictures already,” one of her relatives screamed.

The defendant’s mother, Shirley Ellen Patton, then approached one of the jurors in the hallway. The juror, Robin Hamilton, said the mother told her, “I hope you can sleep tonight” and stormed away.

Hamilton yelled back, “I will!” and began crying. She later said she had complained to Judge Michael J. Farrell that Patton, who sat through most of the trial, often tried to stare her down during the proceedings. The judge’s clerk said that the judge warned Cummings’ attorney privately to tell the mother to stop.

A bailiff called for backup, but the women calmed down before help arrived, and no further action was taken.

Jurors said deliberations were difficult and often heated, with jurors on opposing sides ridiculing each other.

“Some people thought it was an open-and-shut case for guilty and others thought it was an open-and-shut case for not guilty,” said jury foreman David Saporito.

“It got nasty,” Hamilton said. “We all seemed to see something different. I don’t want to ever go through this again.”

Another juror, Gil Aguilar, said he believed that the majority of the group favored acquittal because there was no direct evidence that Cummings struck Kevin Young in her home on June 15, 1990, when the child suffered two fatal skull fractures.

The child died the next day after life-support equipment was disconnected.

Cummings said the child fell and hit his head. But a coroner’s report concluded that the injuries were inconsistent with a fall, and the prosecution’s cased focused on the fact that Cummings was the only adult present when the infant was injured.

Cummings testified that the infant was playing with her 2 1/2-year-old nephew in the living room and she was preparing a bottle in the kitchen when she heard a loud thud and saw Kevin on the floor beside her coffee table.

Aguilar said other jurors thought that it was possible the young nephew struck Kevin, although the defense did not bring up that possibility during the trial. He said that some jurors also felt that Cummings, who was PTA president at Shirley Avenue Elementary School in Reseda, was incapable of hurting a child and poses no threat to society.

Defense attorney Joe Ingber said he took no comfort in the mistrial verdict. Cummings, he said, is “going to have to go through the turmoil of putting her life on hold” until she learns whether she will have to stand trial again.

Farrell is scheduled to hear a motion Aug. 4 by Ingber to dismiss the charges. Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol Fisch said she plans to ask for a new trial at that time, and hopes to combine it with the pending manslaughter case.

In the second case, Cummings is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the March, 1990, death of 14-month-old Matthew Cooley, who died after losing consciousness while at a park in Cummings’ care.

A preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 24.

Kevin’s mother, Toni Majoy-Young, was not in court Tuesday, but in a telephone interview she said that she was not entirely disappointed with the trial’s outcome.

“Better a hung jury than a not-guilty verdict,” said Majoy-Young, who is moving this week from Reseda to Maryland. “I hope there is a new trial. There is not a doubt in my mind that she is guilty. I don’t see how they could believe that she did not do this to him. She is a violent woman.”