Deadlock Ends Officer’s 2nd Trial : Court: Judge declares mistrial in the 1992 killing of an unarmed tow-truck driver. The jury had voted 9 to 3 to acquit the LAPD veteran.

For the second time in less than four months, a deadlocked jury has resulted in a Los Angeles judge declaring a mistrial in the controversial 1992 case of a police officer who killed the unarmed driver of an unregistered tow truck in Southwest Los Angeles.

Superior Court Judge Charles Horan on Monday dismissed a jury that had deliberated for more than three days after panelists reported they could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether Officer Douglas J. Iversen, 45, was criminally liable for the shooting death of John L. Daniels, 36.

In the first trial, which concluded in early October, a racially diverse jury deadlocked 9 to 3 in favor of convicting Iversen of involuntary manslaughter. The new jury, which was given less information on Iversen’s background or on his partner’s immediate reaction to the shooting, deadlocked 9 to 3 in favor of acquittal on the question of whether Iversen was guilty of second-degree murder. The new jurors also voted 8 to 4 in favor of acquittal on the question of voluntary manslaughter.

“I’m very disappointed. I think the evidence supported a second-degree murder conviction,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Katherine Mader, who added that her office will determine whether to request a third trial of Iversen before a Feb. 3 hearing set by Horan.

Defense attorney John D. Barnett said he will ask the judge to dismiss the case out of hand at the upcoming session because “it’s apparent no jury will likely reach a result in this case.”

Iversen, who appeared outwardly relieved at the jury’s action, said he would make no public comment because the case “is not over yet.” But two directors of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, who left the Los Angeles Criminal Courthouse with Iversen, called for dismissal of the case.

“It’s about time the whole thing is over,” union director Gary Fullerton told reporters. “It’s obvious he won’t be convicted.”

Fullerton added that prosecutors and police critics have unfairly “second-guessed . . . (Iversen’s) split-second decision” to fire.

The on-duty shooting occurred a month after the 1992 riots at a Chevron station at Florence Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard, less than two miles from a flash point of the riots. The incident sparked a brief standoff between police and more than 200 angry bystanders and rekindled longstanding community suspicions of the police.

At the service station, Iversen, who is white, spotted an unregistered tow truck that had been mistakenly released from impound, Mader said. Iversen went to get the truck back, ignoring an emergency call ordering him to respond to an auto theft in progress. When Daniels, who is black, refused to stop, Iversen shot him, violating the LAPD’s policy against shooting at moving vehicles.

Barnett countered that Iversen was acting out of a growing public concern about the dangers caused by “bandit” tow-truck drivers who roam the street without sanctions to use the city’s network of official police garages. Unlicensed operators have been criticized for causing injuries as they rush to accidents, including one incident in which a careless driver caused a child’s death.

Barnett said his client shot Daniels, who had ignored his orders to halt, to prevent him from running over a group of pedestrians and the officer’s partner, Patrick Bradshaw.

Jurors interviewed after the declaration of a mistrial said a key issue that divided them was whether Daniels posed an imminent danger to anyone after he failed to halt.

“I perceived a danger both at the scene and as he was leaving,” said a 25-year-old juror who voted in favor of acquittal. She also said she felt that Iversen was not attempting to kill Daniels when he shot him.

Juror Charles Rogers, 51, who voted for second-degree murder, said that based on testimony from witnesses that the tow truck was moving at less than 5 m.p.h., Daniels posed no imminent danger.

Indeed, said Rogers, Iversen actually turned Daniels into a danger by shooting him. “He was (then) an unguided missile in the road,” said Rogers, a county supervising deputy probation officer and one of two blacks on the jury.

Mader said the prosecution’s case was hampered the second time around when Horan limited the introduction of evidence that raised questions about Iversen’s truthfulness and his actions.

During the first trial, one witness reported that soon after the incident, Iversen’s partner, Bradshaw, turned to him and asked: “What did you do that for?”

Horan did not allow that witness to be heard by the second jury, Mader said.

The prosecutor added that she was also unable to inform jurors about a 22-year-old felony conviction against Iversen for receiving stolen property. The crime was pardoned, but Iversen failed to disclose it on his LAPD application as required.

“It’s extremely difficult to convince a jury to convict a police officer operating on duty of anything,” Mader said. “The jury in the last trial understood that this officer clearly was a bad apple.”

In October, Horan declared a mistrial after jurors, who deliberated for two days, failed to agree whether to convict Iversen of second-degree murder or a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Iversen, free on bail, has not testified in either trial. The veteran officer, who is on unpaid leave, still faces departmental disciplinary charges that could result in his firing from the force.