Jury Deadlocks on Penalty for Deputy’s Killer

A judge on Monday declared a mistrial in the case of a Lake Forest man convicted of killing a sheriff’s deputy, with 11 of the 12 jurors concluding that he should get life in prison instead of the death penalty.

The panel declared itself deadlocked after seven hours of what one juror described as emotional and at times angry deliberations. Most panelists said they favor life in prison without parole because they considered the defendant, Maurice Steskal, mentally ill.

The same jury last month convicted Steskal of first-degree murder in the death of Brad Riches, who became the first Orange County deputy sheriff to be slain in the line of duty since 1958.

The judge scheduled a hearing for Monday to determine whether the penalty phase should be retried. Juror Lee Jarvis, 63, of Fullerton said several shouting matches broke out during the deliberations, mostly when those in the majority tried to persuade the lone holdout to change his mind.

“Some people were of the opinion that this person who wanted the death sentence had a preconceived idea that any person who kills a police officer ... deserves the death penalty,” Jarvis said. “We were asked to set those kind of feelings aside.”

Jarvis said he gives the lone holdout credit for sticking to his beliefs despite the pressure from the rest of the panel.

“We were also asked to vote our conscience. I can’t fault him for that. I’m sure it was a struggle for him, when you have 11 people trying to persuade you to vote the other way.”

Jarvis said the majority was swayed by testimony that Steskal suffered from long-standing mental problems.

“This person was delusional for a long time prior to the event,” Jarvis said. “It started in early childhood. He had trouble in kindergarten and it stuck with him forever.”

Steskal was diagnosed with severe paranoia, and his history of mental illness became central to his defense. His attorneys said he was haunted by an irrational and delusional fear of authority figures. That’s why he carried a rifle and what made him pull the trigger, they said.

Deputy Public Defender Mark Davis told jurors that Steskal was physically and emotionally abused as a child

Davis did not argue that his client was not guilty by reason of insanity. Instead, he had asked the jury to find his client guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

Jarvis pointed out that the jury had wholeheartedly rejected that idea in its earlier deliberations, voting unanimously “in real short order” that Steskal was guilty of first-degree murder. “He killed him. We knew it. There was no question in anyone’s mind about that.”

Steskal, 43, entered a 7-Eleven store in Lake Forest early on June 12, 1999, toting an assault rifle. He told the salesclerk not to worry, that he was not going to rob the store but intended to use the weapon to protect himself from the law.

Steskal, an unemployed laborer who lived near the convenience store, bought a pack of cigarettes and walked out as Riches was arriving. He emptied the gun’s magazine into the patrol car, firing 30 rounds that tore through the deputy’s bulletproof vest, authorities said.

Riches, who was on routine patrol, managed to make one radio call before the hail of gunfire began. Authorities identified Steskal with help from a surveillance tape at the store. They arrested him that day in his car, finding 30- and 100-round magazines in the trunk.

During the trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. David Brent, the lead prosecutor, characterized Riches as a “hero cop” and Steskal as a coldblooded killer, “pure and simple,” who killed the deputy because he despised law enforcement officers.