3rd Jury Deadlocks Over Death for Man Who Killed Family

Edward Charles III cheated death for the third time Thursday. A jury deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of executing the former Fullerton mechanic convicted of killing his parents and younger brother in 1994.

Charles, 24, stared straight ahead, his hands clasped in front of him, as Orange County Superior Court Judge William Froeberg declared a mistrial in the third death penalty hearing in a bizarre case beset by repeated legal twists and turns.

Some of the 11 jurors who cast the votes against Charles said Thursday they were frustrated by the unresolved outcome.

“Just the fact that the mother and father and brother were in the car was enough for me,” said Terri Ross, referring to evidence that Charles killed his closest relatives, placed them in the family car and then set it afire. “He made his choice and led me to make mine.”

Another female juror who declined to be identified said she found “overwhelming” evidence for the death penalty.

“It was very difficult,’ she said. “This kind of thing is never easy. I don’t think justice was done.”

One juror--believed to be the lone holdout recommending life without parole for Charles--left the courthouse weeping, as two women comforted her and shielded her from television cameras. Later, a bailiff escorted the sobbing woman back into the courtroom to meet privately with the judge.

After the court hearing, defense attorney Thomas Goethals said the hung jury left his client feeling “very relieved. . . . Anyone who’s just escaped death is going to be relieved.”

Prosecutor David Brent said he is “frustrated” and “disappointed” by the decision but accepted it. He said he did not know whether his office would seek an unprecedented fourth death penalty hearing against Charles.

“If it was 11 to 1 for life, it would make it an easier decision” not to seek a retrial, explained Brent, who has tried three times to have Charles executed and has convinced 34 of 36 jurors that the defendant deserves the death penalty.

“Eventually, the boss will make the decision,” he said, referring to Orange County Dist. Atty. Mike Capizzi.

Charles’ case has been filled with legal drama.

The first jury to hear the case convicted Charles of murder but deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of death as well.

A second panel voted unanimously to execute Charles, but the verdict was thrown out after a juror admitted that he had consulted with a fellow church member about what he should do before casting the deciding vote.

A Fullerton mechanic with no past criminal record, Charles ate a pasta dinner with his family in their affluent Sunny Hills-area home on Nov. 6, 1994, before killing them.

The nude bodies of the defendant’s father, Edward Charles II, 55, and his mother, Delores, 47, were found heaped together the next night in a burning car near a La Mirada school. His younger brother Danny, 19, a budding opera star at USC, was found in the trunk. The father and brother had been stabbed and beaten and the mother had been strangled.

Goethals and other defense attorneys have argued that there was a sibling rivalry between the two brothers, and that Charles’ then-girlfriend, an actress named Tiffany Bowen, was not accepted by his parents.

A psychiatrist testified for the defense that seemingly normal families could implode into horrific violence when extreme competition exists between brothers, according to co-defense counsel Richard Schwartzberg.

Some of Charles’ surviving relatives, including his mother’s sister, testified that they do not want him executed, saying that to lose yet another family member would only deepen the tragedy.

Charles denied involvement in the slayings at the time of his arrest. He has tried to blame others and may have attempted escapes, according to the testimony.

His grandfather, Bernard Severino, testified during the murder trials that his grandson, whom he said had been his favorite, had called from jail and asked him to take the blame for the killings, saying, “I’m young; I’ve got my life ahead of me. . . . You’re old.”

From jail, Charles also tried to hire a hit man to kill his grandfather and then take blame for all four murders, according to a deputy sheriff who told investigators he posed undercover as a would-be assassin.

The first retrial was nearly thrown off track when an allegation surfaced that before the first trial, Charles had plotted an escape during which he would take a member of his public defense team hostage.

His lawyers said a witness told them Charles was only joking, and they never feared for their safety. But ultimately, they were removed from the case and private attorneys were hired to represent him.

This time, jurors heard evidence that three razor blades were found in Charles’ cell in October. A jailhouse informant supposedly told deputies that Charles planned to use them to escape.

A hearing to consider whether Charles should face another death penalty proceeding was set for Feb. 6.