Jury Split in Ex-Worker’s Murder Trial

A jury announced that it was “hopelessly deadlocked” in the trial of Robert Earl Mack, charged with shooting two General Dynamics Convair Division officials after he was laid off six months ago.

After seven days of tense deliberations, the San Diego Superior Court jury split 6 to 6 on a charge that Mack, who had worked at Convair for 24 years, murdered a company labor negotiator. The jury deadlocked 8 to 4 for conviction on a charge that Mack tried to murder his former supervisor.

A second trial was set for Sept. 11.

“Tempers definitely flared,” one juror said of the deliberations. Judge Richard Murphy declared a mistrial, saying: “Sometimes, this is the way the system works.”

Prosecutors characterized the Jan. 24 shootings as a cold-blooded attack, revenge for the layoff notice that company officials had sent Mack the week before. Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Sickels said prosecutors will be ready for the second trial.

Mack, 43, is charged with the murder of Michael Konz, 25, and the attempted murder of James T. English, 52, both shot in the head after a grievance hearing at the Convair plant. Konz was a management labor supervisor. English was Mack’s supervisor.

Mack, who smiled and nodded his head as the deadlock was announced, has admitted to shooting both men. Testifying in his own defense, he said he intended only to kill himself in a ritualistic suicide at Convair. But, he said, he blacked out just before the shooting and recalls nothing of the attack.

The blackout, Mack testified, was prompted by a “big old orange blur that shot through my head.” He also testified that he had the sensation during the shootings of riding a big, black cat.

Juror Robert Payne, 50, said prosecutors did not rebut Mack’s claims of “anger and impulse” with “hard evidence” of criminal intent.