Jury Deadlocks in Migrant Shooting Case : Justice: New trial will be set for San Ysidro man charged with killing an illegal immigrant who had run through his yard.

A mistrial was declared Wednesday after a Superior Court jury was unable to reach a verdict on a San Ysidro man charged in the shooting death of an illegal immigrant who had run through his back yard.

The hung jury ended the trial of Harold Ray Bassham, 20, who admitted shooting and killing Humberto Reyes Miranda on April 20 in a cul-de-sac just north of the international border.

Bassham said that he chased a group of six migrants after they crossed through his yard and threw a brick at his dog. According to his testimony, Bassham confronted Reyes, who was preparing to scale a freeway noise wall next to Interstate 5, and fired his .25-caliber handgun only after Reyes came at him with a rock in his hand.

Several jurors believed Bassham’s story and favored acquitting him of all charges, according to the prosecutor in the case, who reported the comments of several jurors who refused to speak with reporters.

“Several jurors believed it was self-defense or that there were reasonable doubts,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Jennifer Crossland said.

Crossland had argued during the trial that Bassham was guilty of first-degree murder and that several elements in his story of self-defense did not match other evidence presented in the case.

The victim’s best friend, Javier Rodriquez Martinez, testified that he observed Reyes near a fence that the migrants used to help them scale the freeway wall, while Bassham said that Reyes was charging at him from a different location.

“He admitted that he was not in fear for his life at that moment,” Crossland said, referring to the legal standard necessary to prove that a homicide was committed in self-defense.

The panel reported to Judge Frank A. Brown that it was divided 9 to 3 on the question of guilt, but the foreman did not say how the 12 people had split.

Bassham was charged with murder in the case, but the jury was instructed to consider five options: first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter and not guilty of any crime.

Crossland said that “many” people on the jury favored convicting Bassham of first-degree murder.

But after the jury was dismissed, Judge Brown informally expressed his opinion: “My feeling on this whole case is that it was second degree.”

Defense attorney Scott Rand was on vacation Wednesday.

Bassham, who is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail, was ordered back to court on Sept. 2, when a new trial date will be scheduled.

The mistrial in the Bassham case is the latest one in a series that has plagued prosecutors. In the past three months, several cases, including that of General Dynamics shooter Robert Earl Mack, have been left unresolved when juries deadlocked.