Holdout Juror Blocks Conviction of 2 in Slaying

After six days of deadlocked jury deliberations, a mistrial was declared Wednesday in the murder trial of two men accused of killing a woman in front of her family.

The panel split, 11-1, in favor of convicting Brain Ray Fletcher and Terrance Kent Moore of first-degree murder. The prosecutor said he would seek another trial for the pair accused of gunning down 33-year-old Maria Guadalupe Estrada on June 20, 1991.

Estrada was shot once in the face after she stopped on the Market Street on-ramp to southbound Interstate 15 because a cab was partially blocking the on-ramp. According to testimony given by Estrada’s family, Fletcher shot the woman after she stopped to offer assistance.

The lone holdout on the jury, Betty Williams, said she could not find enough evidence to convict Fletcher, 23, and Moore, 30, of first-degree murder, although she would have approved a second-degree conviction.

“Without any doubt in my mind, I went by the law,” she said.

While expressing his frustration with the outcome, Deputy Dist. Atty. Rupert Linley noted that every juror agreed that Fletcher and Moore were guilty of murder, but the issue in question was the degree of murder.

Linley proposed to the jury that the pair was guilty of first-degree murder because they killed Estrada during the course of an attempted robbery--trying to steal her car. “They had moved the cab to block the road so the next car would stop and they would rob the car,” he said.

First-degree murder carries a mandatory penalty of 25 years to life in state prison, while a second-degree murder conviction requires a sentence of 15 years to life.

While the jury was unable to decide on the major charges, the panel did convict Moore of second-degree robbery and auto theft related to another incident. Also, both men were convicted of being convicted felons in possession of a firearm. They will be sentenced Aug. 21.