Jury Deadlocks in Trial Over Nurse’s Slaying
A jury deadlocked Monday on whether to convict a 25-year-old Pasadena man of killing an Altadena mother of four during a crime rampage with another man already found guilty of the slaying.
La Min Johnson was accused of killing Altadena nurse Marsha Lee Birch on Jan. 3, 1997, after she left her home early that morning. The Los Angeles Superior Court jury had previously convicted Johnson for a series of robberies and assaults in 1996 and 1997.
The district attorney’s office will decide by Feb. 8 whether to seek a retrial on the murder charge.
Meanwhile, another jury continues to deliberate whether Jason Mency, 25, of Monrovia should be executed for Birch’s slaying or imprisoned for life without parole.
Mency was convicted of murder during a robbery, which made him eligible for the death penalty.
He also was found guilty of 59 other charges involving a five-month crime rampage in the San Gabriel Valley with Johnson.
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