Another Plot Twist in Charles Case

The death penalty trial of Edward Charles III was at risk Wednesday of being thrown out for the third time after two jurors said they had inadvertently seen newspaper headlines referring to an alleged escape attempt by the convicted murderer.

Defense attorney Thomas Goethals asked Orange County Superior Court Judge William R. Froeberg to dismiss the two jurors after they acknowledged they had seen three words: “evidence,” “escape” and “killer.”

Dismissals would have brought the number of jurors down to 11, one less than is required for a verdict, and forced a mistrial. One alternate was released last week after he showed up late for the third time.

Froeberg denied Goethals’ request, but recessed court until Monday to give the defense time to develop arguments about why jurors should not be told about the alleged escape attempt.

It is not clear that Charles tried to break out of the Orange County Jail, officials said.

Sheriff’s Lt. Hector Rivera said a search was conducted Sunday after someone told deputies that Charles was planning an escape.

A small hole was found in a plaster wall in Charles’ cell and a piece of wire on the roof had been sliced, Rivera said. The blade of a coping saw used for cutting wood was found in a day room area. But officials said Wednesday there was no evidence Charles was involved.

“There was one cut in a heavy steel fence and nothing to pin it to Charles,” said Rivera. “To say he was attempting an escape, or that an escape was imminent, is incorrect.”

Three blades were found hidden in Charles’ room last October during another search. Rivera and the deputy who conducted the surprise search said that information was not immediately reported to the district attorney because it was merely a jail violation, not a crime, and that it had been handled “administratively.”

Goethals said there is no evidence his client had tried to escape. The attorney blamed the controversy on a fellow inmate of Charles, Ricky Rodriguez, whom he said is a convicted child molester facing a lengthy prison sentence.

Goethals accused Rodriguez of making up a story about Charles’ attempted escape.

“It could not happen, it did not happen. . . . The whole thing is the product of a snitch’s mind . . . to win favor from authorities,” he said.

The sheriff’s office would not confirm nor deny that Rodriguez, who is housed in the same cell block as Charles, told them Charles planned to escape, and showed them where the saw was.

“We are worried about Mr. Rodriguez’s welfare,” said Rivera later, because of reports that he was an informant against fellow inmates.

Judge Froeberg ordered Rodriguez brought to court Wednesday, but Rodriguez refused to testify, invoking his right against self-incrimination.

“I’ll take the penalty. I don’t care. I’m not going to answer you, man,” Rodriguez said when the judge told him he could be held in contempt.

The events were the latest bizarre twist in the Charles case, which has stretched on since 1994, when the Fullerton man’s father, mother and brother were bludgeoned, killed and burned in the family car.

Charles was convicted of the murders, but the first jury deadlocked on whether he should be executed. A second jury returned a death penalty verdict, but it was overturned because of juror misconduct.

Charles’ activities in jail have also previously made headlines. In 1995 he phoned his grandfather and asked him to take responsibility for the murders. A deputy sheriff also told investigators that Charles tried to hire him, when he posed undercover as a hit man, to kill his grandfather and take the blame for the murders.