Carmona and Supporters Face Uphill Fight

As supporters launched a new defense push, a Costa Mesa teenager still faces a long and uphill legal battle to overturn a controversial armed-robbery conviction, his attorneys and legal experts said Friday.

Arthur Carmona, 17, was sentenced last week to 12 years in prison after being convicted by a jury of robbing a Costa Mesa restaurant and an Irvine juice bar in 1998.

Since his conviction, however, a key witness has said she was tricked by police into identifying Carmona, and two jurors have expressed misgivings about the verdict.

One of the jurors, Sandra Dinardo, 56, charged Thursday that during a lunch break some panelists committed what could be considered misconduct by “strong-arming” her against the judge’s orders not to discuss the case outside the jury room. Another juror charged earlier that he felt pressured by the rest of the panel.

But even if the charges are true they do not necessarily provide grounds for a new trial, said Karen Smith, a professor at the Southwestern University School of Law.

Juror misconduct of some sort occurs frequently during trials, but rarely is it severe enough to warrant overturning a verdict, she said. Nor are courts often swayed by jurors like Dinardo who change their minds after the verdict is rendered.

The concern is that jurors not be “swayed by emotion after they see the consequence of their votes,” said Smith, who teaches criminal law and procedure.

William Kelley, a longtime Orange County deputy public defender, agreed that it would be unusual for a judge to order a new trial based on the misconduct allegations.

“A juror would have to say, ‘I really didn’t think this guy was guilty, and I only voted guilty because I felt pressured,’ ” Kelley said.

But that claim would be tempered by the testimony of other jurors who might deny such an allegation, he added.

“That is a call the judge makes,” he said. “There are no fast rules.”

Although some of Carmona’s supporters acknowledged the difficulties ahead of them, they nevertheless expressed confidence Friday that Carmona’s conviction will eventually be overturned. During a press conference in Santa Ana, they confirmed that the Los Angeles law firm of Sidley and Austin will represent Carmona in his appeal.

Devore and other Carmona supporters have pointed to the lack of physical evidence in the case; they say Carmona’s fingerprints were not found on the gun or in the getaway car that police say was used during the robberies.

They also say Carmona’s court-appointed attorney, Kenneth Reed, did not call witnesses who could have provided the defendant with an alibi.

Casey Becerra, who at first identified Carmona as the man who held up the Costa Mesa restaurant, has since said she is not sure he’s the perpetrator.

She said police influenced her testimony by telling her that they had found “his” gun, backpack and hat used in the robbery. A police investigator in the case has denied Becerra’s claim.