Jury Tells of Impasse on Killer’s Sentence
Jurors told a federal judge Tuesday that they were deadlocked on whether to sentence convicted murderer and Mexican Mafia leader Mariano “Chuy” Martinez to death.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter sent the jury home but asked that the members continue deliberations today, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office. For Martinez to be put to death, all 12 jurors must agree on that sentence.
Martinez, 42, was found guilty Feb. 14 of 24 criminal counts, including murder, racketeering and drug trafficking, in the first federal death penalty case in Los Angeles since 1950.
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