Judge Orders Drug Case Jury to Keep Deliberating
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Jurors deliberating drug trafficking charges against a former state narcotics agent and two co-defendants told a Los Angeles federal judge Thursday that they have been unable to reach verdicts after six days of deliberations.
Only one member of the panel expressed any confidence that the deadlock could be broken when queried by U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder.
Nevertheless, Snyder ordered the jurors to return to court today for another round of deliberations in the case against Richard Wayne Parker, 44, a nine-year veteran of the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, Christine Whitney, 27, of Redondo Beach, and Pamela Sue Gray, 44, of Hermosa Beach.
Parker is accused of stealing 650 pounds of cocaine from an evidence locker at the bureau’s office in Riverside and distributing the drugs through a network that allegedly included Whitney and Gray.
On Wednesday, two groups of jurors had to be restrained by fellow members during a shouting match.
Anticipating a mistrial, Snyder set a hearing for July 6 to discuss a date for a new trial.
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