Jurors deadlocked Tuesday in the retrial of a reputed gang member charged with the Halloween 2010 killing of a 5-year-old boy who was shot to death in his back yard while dressed in a Spider-Man costume.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry declared a mistrial in the case of Leonard Hall Jr., 25, after the panel announced that it was split 10-2, with the majority favoring a guilty verdict after nearly three days of deliberations.
A Feb. 4 hearing is scheduled to decide the next step.
It was the second time a jury has deadlocked on the case against Hall.
A mistrial was declared in March 2013 after the first jury deadlocked 9-3, with the majority in favor of guilt.
Hall is charged with murdering Aaron Shannon Jr. and trying to kill the boy’s grandfather and uncle, who were wounded in their back yard in the 1000 block of East 84th Street in South Los Angeles about 2 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2010.
Deputy District Attorney Sarika Kim showed jurors a photo of the boy — taken minutes before the shooting — showing off the Spider-Man costume his grandfather had bought for him.
Hall and another reputed gang member, Marcus Denson, allegedly went into rival territory in the midst of a gang war and passed by in an alley behind the family’s back yard, according to the prosecutor. Eyewitnesses subsequently identified Hall as the man who returned to shoot the little boy and two of the child’s relatives, who had no gang affiliations, Kim told jurors.
Hall’s attorney, Carol Ojo, said the issue was “who fired this shot and what the evidence shows,” telling jurors that there was “absolutely no physical evidence” linking Hall to the crime.
The defense attorney also questioned eyewitnesses’ identification of Hall as the gunman and questioned why he would have been with Denson, saying that the two did not get along with each other.
Hall is charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder, along with gang and gun allegations.
Denson, now 23, pleaded guilty earlier to one count of voluntary manslaughter and two counts of attempted murder and is facing 25 years in state prison.
— City News Service