Judge Declares Mistrial in Newport Developer’s Case : Courts: Jurors said Tuesday they were leaning toward convicting Jim Hood, who is charged with killing a former employee, but were unable to reach a verdict.

Despite tortured deliberations for more than five weeks, jurors said Tuesday that they were deadlocked in the case of Newport Beach developer Jim Hood, charged with murdering a man he allegedly had hired to kill his wife.

San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Don Turner declared a mistrial after 10 jurors said they had voted to convict Hood, but one juror favored an acquittal and another juror remained undecided.

Hood, 49, shook his head in disgust as jurors announced that they were leaning toward conviction. He had told jurors that he shot Bruce Beauchamp, 32, in self-defense after Beauchamp, a former employee, entered Hood’s office near Fontana armed with a gun in March, 1992.

Jury foreman George Pantoja said outside of court that the jury had failed in its responsibility and urged that Hood be retried.

“We had a job to do and it didn’t get done. . . . What upsets me is that for society, there is a killer out there,” Pantoja said.

Juror Raymond Alonzo, who was criticized by a fellow juror for wanting to review the evidence in too much detail, said he felt that jurors were rushing to end their service.

“There was a time factor. I guess some jurors were stressed about lost wages,” said Alonzo, who was undecided during deliberations.

Jurors had deliberated since Jan. 28, but found themselves repeatedly deadlocked. Due to a family illness, one juror was replaced by an alternate who later favored acquittal. At one point jurors revealed that they had reached a verdict but decided to take a weekend break to mull it--and returned to find themselves deadlocked again.

Judge Turner had asked jurors to continue deliberations if they felt that a verdict could be reached.

“I hate to give up the long trial,” he said Tuesday, but “I don’t want to keep you here so long that any of you feel pressured to come to a verdict.”

Defense attorney Philip C. Bourdette would only say he was disappointed and would not allow Hood to comment.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David Whitney said his office must decide whether to seek a retrial but said he hoped for a second chance.

Hood “just dodged a bullet and I’ll aim better next time,” Whitney said.

Hood has never been charged in the August, 1990, slaying of his wife. But prosecutors alleged that Hood hired Beauchamp to kill Bonnie Jean Hood and her lover and then killed Beauchamp to cover up evidence. Beauchamp was earlier acquitted on charges of killing Bonnie Jean Hood.

But defense attorneys claimed that Beauchamp was threatening Hood over the arrest of Beauchamp’s brother-in-law, who had been accused of stealing property from Hood’s business.

The case gained widespread attention because it chronicled the rise and fall of a Newport Beach couple with assets estimated in the millions of dollars. At least one book and one television movie based on the case are underway.