Relatives Attack Jurors After Man Is Convicted of Murder

Relatives of a Tulare County murder defendant were so angered by a jury’s guilty verdict that they assaulted three women jurors walking to their cars after the trial, police said.

Visalia police said charges will be filed against at least one of the family members, although no arrests were made Friday. The person to be charged was not identified.

The jurors reportedly were not seriously hurt during Thursday’s attack half an hour after finding Marlon Edwards, 20, guilty of first-degree murder. Edwards was convicted of fatally shooting Antonio Telles, 19, of Tulare during a fight at a Visalia apartment Dec. 22.

“Some family members saw (the jurors) in the parking area and were enraged at the verdict,” police agent Gary James said. “They attempted to assault and chase several of the jurors and then drove at them with a vehicle.”

James said several jurors climbed into one car for protection, and members of the defendants’ family beat on the side, “expressing displeasure with the verdict.”

Bailiffs and sheriff’s deputies came out of the courthouse at that point and the suspects left, he said.

Bailiff Richard Hineman said the family members were not in the courthouse when the verdict was read.