LOS ANGELES : Juror Leaves in Middle of Murder Trial Deliberations
Jury deliberations that began more than a week ago in the murder trial of a man who is accused of hiring hit men to kill his parents must begin again because the jury foreman left the proceedings Monday, apparently because of a conflict with other jurors.
“There had been a hearing Friday where there was some disagreement among the jurors,” district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said.
The jury foreman left during a morning break and did not return. The judge brought in an alternate juror and ordered that deliberations start over again, Gibbons said.
The judge issued a warrant for the man’s arrest, Deputy Dist. Atty. Pat Dixon said.
The jury began deliberating March 26 in the murder trial of Neil Woodman, Robert Homick and Steven Homick. Woodman, 49, and his brother, Stewart, 43, are accused of hiring the Homicks to murder his parents as they were returning home from a Yom Kippur dinner Sept. 25, 1985.
Stewart Woodman was convicted in 1991 of murder and conspiracy for the killings that have been dubbed the Yom Kippur murders. Last fall, he testified against his older brother Neil in order to avoid the death penalty.
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