Jury Unable to Agree in Threat Case

A judge declared a mistrial Thursday in the criminal trial of South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles, after jurors said they were deadlocked on all seven felony counts.

The 10-man, two-woman jury in Norwalk split almost evenly on charges that Robles had threatened to kill two state legislators, a political consultant and a South Gate police lieutenant.

Some jurors said later that the panel agreed that limits should be placed on violent political rhetoric, but that they were not convinced that statements Robles had made, including talk of killing and raping political enemies, amounted to criminal conduct.

The mistrial ended an unusual proceeding in which jurors were asked to test the legal boundaries between heated political language and physical threats.

Prosecutors argued that Robles doesn’t deserve a “free pass” because he’s an elected official. Defense attorneys said anything Robles had said should be taken in a political context.

The political backdrop, jurors said, didn’t factor into their deliberations as much as the gender of the targets.

Juror John Jones said the jury leaned toward not-guilty verdicts on the counts related to statements directed at men. Jones, a UPS worker, said jurors had perceived the language as “macho” talk, and didn’t think the men feared Robles.

But the jury at one point voted 10 to 2 for a guilty verdict regarding threatening language directed at state Sen. Martha Escutia (D-Whittier). According to a witness, Robles said that, if he could get away with it, he would rape Escutia and kill her husband.

Escutia had testified that she had been so concerned for her safety and that of her family that she had not gone to South Gate, a working-class city in her district, for nearly two years.

“The man threatened each of these people,” said juror Ron Millier, 50, an unemployed factory worker who voted guilty on all counts. “You don’t threaten to kill people. You don’t threaten to rape people. Not in this country.”

Robles, who did not testify, declined to comment.

Afterward, he shook hands with one of the jurors in a hallway crowded with friends, city employees and family members.

Prosecutors typically retry cases after mistrials. Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said a decision would be made in a few weeks.

Thomas Brown, Robles’ attorney, filed a motion to dismiss the charges. Superior Court Judge John Torribio said he would hear the matter in early January.

If prosecutors seek another trial, and the judge denies the defense’s motion to dismiss the charges, a new trial could begin within two months.

During the weeklong trial, southeast Los Angeles County officials portrayed a political landscape filled with crude politicians who pepper their closed-door conversations with threatening rhetoric.

One witness, former Assemblyman Mervyn M. Dymally, chuckled when describing how violent language -- sometimes death threats -- is common in private conversations.

“It’s sort of humorous and hypocritical,” he said, referring to the contradictions between many politicians’ private and public images.

Robles, 37, the perceived political boss of South Gate, has long cultivated a tough-guy image, drawing a mix of admiration for his boldness and scorn for his alleged bully tactics.

He was arrested in April, three months after investigators found numerous weapons, including a semiautomatic assault rifle, in his two-story townhouse. The weapon case is being tried separately.

During the trial, three witnesses said they had relayed threatening remarks from Robles to people identified as victims: Escutia’s husband, Leo Briones; Assemblyman Marco Antonio Firebaugh (D-Los Angeles); and South Gate Police Lt. Vincent Avila.

Under the law, prosecutors must prove that a statement was intended as a threat and caused fear. They also must prove it was unconditional. Prosecutors do not have to prove intent to carry out a threat.

According to two jurors interviewed after the trial, the jury almost acquitted Robles on the alleged threat against Firebaugh.

In that case, Robles told a witness that he wanted to take Firebaugh to Tijuana and put him in the trunk of a car before blowing his brains out.

Jurors said that, because Firebaugh didn’t report the incident until months later, he didn’t seem frightened.

They also said Firebaugh’s admission that he hadn’t wanted to be perceived as a victim influenced their votes.

The jury at one point reached an 11-1 vote for acquittal on the threat against Firebaugh before deliberations broke down, jurors said.

On the Escutia-related counts, where Robles preceded the violent language with, “If I could get away with it,” two jurors held out against a guilty verdict. They said the statement was conditional because he used the word “if.”

But 10 jurors thought Robles had crossed the line, even though they thought Escutia’s husband didn’t seem too concerned.

“Briones didn’t take it that seriously, but his wife took it a whole different way,” Jones said.

According to the jurors, information about the city’s past violence against political figures, including a shooting and firebombing, made some jurors lean toward guilty verdicts.

South Gate’s super-heated political landscape is “far too explosive,” Millier said.

“If that’s the way politics is,” Jones said, “I ain’t going to be no politician.”