Drug Ring Leader Guilty in Slayings : Court: Juror is replaced by alternate after partial verdict is reached in complex case involving 1988 ambush at Lake View Terrace crack house. Murder counts against three other defendants are unresolved.

Stanley Bryant, a leader of the notorious San Fernando Valley cocaine ring that bears his family’s name, was convicted Wednesday of two counts of first-degree murder in the 1988 ambush of two drug rivals at a fortified Lake View Terrace crack house.

The Superior Court jury, which began deliberations a week ago after a 14-week trial in Los Angeles, delivered partial verdicts against Bryant. Then, in a rare turn of events, one juror was replaced by an alternate and the new panel was sent back to the jury room with instructions to start deliberations anew on the outstanding counts.

Still unresolved are murder counts involving the fatal shootings of a woman and child who were waiting outside the crack house in a parked car, and an attempted murder count for a second child cut by flying glass.

The jury also continues to consider identical charges against three other defendants, all alleged employees of the so-called Bryant Family: Leroy Wheeler, 26; Donald Franklin Smith, 37; and Jon Preston Settle, 35.

The jury found the 37-year-old Bryant, also known by the nickname “Peanut Head,” guilty of first-degree murder for masterminding the slayings of former Family hit man Andre Armstrong, 31, and his partner, James Brown, 43. The two men were trapped inside a cagelike metal security door and fired upon repeatedly by assailants armed with shotguns and pistols.

Like many other developments in the convoluted case, which has consumed six years and cost more than $2.5 million to prosecute, the first guilty verdicts were delivered in unorthodox fashion. But they came with surprisingly little fanfare.

The jury returned its partial decision inside a nearly empty courtroom during the noon recess, and one juror was replaced after informing the judge he faces possible knee surgery. Superior Court Judge Charles E. Horan then sent the jury back to deliberate, instructing panel members to disregard any previous decisions they had reached regarding the outstanding counts.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys declined to comment on the unusual proceeding, saying the judge had imposed a gag order.

Later, Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson said a 1988 court precedent, People vs. Aikens, allows for seating alternate jurors after partial verdicts have been taken. The Aikens case states that such a scenario is permissible “as long as the jury is instructed to disregard all deliberations on the remaining counts and begin anew.”

The jury also must decide on special circumstances that could carry the death penalty for all four defendants, including the multiple deaths and lying in wait.

During the trial, prosecutors portrayed the Bryant Family as a sophisticated drug ring that raked in as much as $500,000 a month at its peak. With its hub a Pacoima pool hall and a dozen northeast Valley crack houses, the Family operated like a business, synchronizing its shifts with police roll calls and offering salaried employees paid vacation time and use of company cars.