D.A. Won’t Seek Death Again for Vargas

The Orange County district attorney’s office announced Wednesday that it will not seek a second death penalty trial in the case of Noel Uriel Vargas Jr., who was convicted of killing a 7-Eleven clerk during a robbery, a crime captured on videotape.

The decision comes a month after a jury deadlocked, with 11 of the 12 jurors who convicted Vargas of the killing believing that the defendant’s life should be spared. Only one juror thought that Vargas should be executed for shooting Nirmal Singh, who was workinghis first night shift at the La Habra convenience store.

As a result of the decision, Vargas is scheduled to be sentenced July 31 to life in prison without parole.

While prosecutors have typically sought a retrial after such deadlocks, the 11-1 split weighed heavily in the decision not to try again, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Elizabeth Henderson.

“We’re not sorry that we sought death in the first place, but we have to consider the likelihood of our being successful in a second penalty trial,” Henderson said. “We don’t want to spend the additional public resources.”

Henderson said that comments from jurors after the trial also played a role.

“They basically felt sorry for him because of his bad childhood,” Henderson said.

At trial, Vargas’ attorney, Gary Pohlson, had painted a painful picture of Vargas’ early years, saying he was shuffled between feuding parents and neglected to the point of not having food when hungry.

“I think they did the right thing,” Pohlson said of the decision by the district attorney’s office.

Pohlson said his 21-year-old client maintains his innocence and is appealing the guilty verdict. He said Vargas is relieved, however, that he no longer faces the possibility of execution.

The deadlock on the Vargas case marked the third time in four capital cases this year that juries were not able to decide on a punishment for a defendant. It’s a dramatic contrast to the previous year, when a record eight death sentences were recommended in Orange County.

Defense attorneys have contended that the D.A.’s office has been overzealous in seeking the death penalty in recent years while prosecutors, noting the egregious nature of the crimes, insist that capital punishment was appropriate in each of the cases.

Singh, a resident of Fullerton, was killed on his 44th birthday. He had emigrated from India three years before his murder in search of a better life for his family. He had worked at the 7-Eleven for only two weeks and volunteered to work the night shift on the day of his death in order to impress his boss.