OXNARD : Jury Quizzes Judge in Sentencing Phase

A jury deciding whether a convicted Oxnard murderer will be put to death or spend the rest of his life in prison asked a judge a provocative question Thursday: What would happen if it did not agree on a verdict?

Despite the question, lawyers in the case refused to speculate whether the jury in the case of 24-year-old Christopher James Sattiewhite might be deadlocked.

The jury last month convicted Sattiewhite of first-degree murder and a special allegation that made him eligible for the gas chamber. He shot 30-year-old Genoveva Gonzales in the head three times Jan. 26, 1992, and left her body in a drainage ditch along Arnold Road in Oxnard.

In his response to Thursday’s note from the jury, Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch urged the jurors to concern themselves only with reaching a verdict. He told them not to worry about the consequences of a possible deadlock.

The spokesman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment, saying prosecutors did not want to influence jurors in any way.

Willard P. Wiksell, one of Sattiewhite’s two defense attorneys, also declined comment.

In capital punishment cases where a jury cannot reach a verdict, however, California law is clear on how the judge shall proceed.

It states the court must dismiss the deadlocked jury and impanel a new one. If the new jury also deadlocks, then the court has the discretion of ordering another new jury or imposing a sentence of life in prison without parole.

The Sattiewhite jury, which began deliberations Tuesday, will not meet today because of a scheduling conflict by one of its members. It resumes work Monday morning.