Hung jury on 6 defendants accused of murder in gang member’s killing

After nine days of deliberations, a jury informed the judge that it could not reach a unanimous verdict for any of the six defendants accused of murder in the 2013 shooting and stabbing of Erick Gomez in north Modesto.

That means the defendants will have to stand trial all over again.

The prosecution says Gomez, 20, was targeted by vengeful Sureño gang members hunting down rival Norteño gang members Feb. 14, 2013.

The defense says Gomez was shot by a gunman who remains a fugitive and stabbed by a co-defendant who became a key prosecution witness, so their clients should not be held responsible for his death.

The jury of four women and eight men began deliberations about 2:40 p.m. Jan. 9. Wednesday afternoon, the jury told the judge it was hopelessly deadlocked on all defendants. With a hung jury, Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Thomas Zeff was forced to declare a mistrial.

The judge scheduled the defendants to return to court Feb. 26, when the court could possibly schedule the start of a second trial.

Nine people have been indicted in connection with Gomez’s death: Giovani Barocio, Nancy Rodriguez, Jeanette Robles, Elida Carranza, Jenna Sebourn, Dalia Mendoza, Lisandro Mendoza, Jesse James Sebourn and Michael Terrill Sebourn.

Dalia Mendoza is being prosecuted separately. She has agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors in exchange for her testimony against her co-defendants. Robles’ mental competency has come into question, so she also will be prosecuted separately. Barocio, the suspected gunman, remains a fugitive.

Deputy District Attorney Tom Brennan said the District Attorney’s Office will seek a second trial. “I remain undeterred and fully committed to aggressively fighting gang violence in our community,” he said.

The prosecutor also said he accepts this hung jury as he accept all outcomes from jury trials, but he acknowledged that a trial ending without a verdict leaves those involved feeling as though not much was done.

“Witnesses and surviving crime victims are not the only victims of a hung jury,” Brennan said. “The jurors themselves often leave their jury service with feelings of frustration and lack of accomplishment. Criminal defendants are troubled by the uncertainty of their fate.”

Del Bohner, Rodriguez’s attorney, spoke to some of the jurors as they left the courthouse Wednesday afternoon. He said it seems the jurors weren’t sure the defendants’ actual involvement in the attack on Gomez resulted in great bodily injury to the victim.

The defense attorneys pointed to Barocio and Dalia Mendoza as the primary aggressors who caused Gomez’s death.

Considering the amount of money and time spent on this trial, “It would be outrageous to do a whole other trial,” Bohner said.

Jury selection for the trial began in August and came to a halt four weeks later when one of the defense attorneys asked the state appellate court to overturn a ruling from the local judge. Jury selection started again in late September with a new pool of potential jurors, and testimony began in November.

The murder trial was held in a former federal bankruptcy courtroom in downtown Modesto to allow more space for the increased number of defendants, attorneys and bailiffs.

Court officials already are working on securing state funding for a 12-month lease on the property – for $142,000 – to have the space available for a second trial. “That is in the works, and everything indicates that it will go through,” said court executive officer Rebecca Fleming.

She said the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department will have to determine whether it has enough money in its budget to fund the assignment of additional deputies to provide security at the former bankruptcy courtroom at 12th and L streets.

Along with the murder charge, the jurors had to determine whether the defendants committed the crime for the benefit of the Sureño street gang. If convicted, the gang enhancement could have lengthened the defendants’ sentences significantly.

In his closing argument, the prosecutor told the jury that the attack on Gomez was a primary example of the ongoing warfare between Sureño and Norteño gangs on the streets of Modesto. Brennan argued that a group of Sureños, seeking vengeance for an earlier beat-down that day, went out hunting for any Norteños it could find.

The group found Gomez walking with his girlfriend along Vera Cruz Drive in a neighborhood claimed as Norteño turf. Gomez was a Norteño gang member, but there was no indication he was involved in the earlier assault on Sureños.

Brennan said an autopsy showed numerous stab wounds on Gomez’s back, with the blade puncturing his body in a variety of angles. That indicates multiple people stabbed Gomez, the prosecutor argued.

Gregory Bentley, Jesse Sebourn’s attorney, argued in the trial that the prosecution is intent on convicting six defendants because investigators can’t find the gunman.

Dan Johnson represents Michael Sebourn, father to Jesse and Jenna Sebourn. The defense attorney argued his client was trying to protect his children, and that’s why Michael Sebourn was there when Gomez was killed but he didn’t stab or shoot Gomez.

The prosecutor argued that the Sebourn siblings were attacked by Norteños after they were caught defacing gang grafitti memorializing two slain Norteños. Brennan said Jesse and Jenna Sebourn wanted revenge and gathered the group of Sureños to retaliate.

Tony Serra, a well known trial lawyer from San Francisco, represented Jenna Sebourn in the trial. He argued that she did not participate in or hear talk of retaliation, she did not participate in any gang confrontations that day, she never participated in gang activity and she doesn't have a criminal record, not even a traffic ticket.

Bohner argued that Barocio shot Gomez because he was seeking to regain his manhood after Dalia Mendoza, a woman and fellow gang member, challenged him in front of others.

Matthew Yeoman, Carranza’s attorney, cautioned the jurors about Dalia Mendoza’s testimony, calling her a biased witness angry at her co-defendants. He argued that her lies to police were very detailed, and that she admitted to lying “to cover her own ass.”

The defendants remain in custody at the Stanislaus County Jail, awaiting the start of their second trial.

This story was originally published January 28, 2015 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Hung jury on 6 defendants accused of murder in gang member’s killing."