Jury still deliberating in teen’s Modesto park slaying

A jury on Wednesday morning will begin its fifth day of deliberations in a trial for three defendants accused of murder in a Modesto park stabbing.

Jacob Segura, Taylor Koplen and Juan Garcia confronted Tylor Crippen and his girlfriend before the defendants chased Crippen into Creekwood Park, authorities say. The prosecution believes Koplen stabbed Crippen in the park as the three defendants were trying to rob him.

The jury of six women and six men has to decide, based on the evidence, who killed Crippen and whether anyone else is responsible. The jurors began deliberating a week ago, and they’ve been instructed to weigh the evidence for each defendant individually.

Prosecutors are seeking a murder conviction for all three defendants, even though they believe only Koplen stabbed Crippen. They believe the slaying was the result of a botched robbery that all the defendants intended to commit, so they should all be held responsible for the death. It’s called the “felony murder rule.”

Along with murder, the defendants are charged with robbery and two counts of attempted robbery, along with enhancements of committing crimes for the benefit of the Norteño street gang.

Each defense attorney has directed the blame toward his client’s co-defendants, each of them arguing his client was not responsible for the slaying.

Martin Baker, Koplen’s attorney, has argued that the attack on Crippen might have been with the intent only to intimidate or assault him. “As horrible as that is, it’s not intent of a robbery,” Baker said during his closing argument last week.

On Nov. 4, California voters approved Proposition 47, which changed how the court instructed the jury in the Crippen case. Now, the jury has the option of convicting the defendants of less serious misdemeanor theft charges.

Without the felony attempted-robbery charges in connection with the stabbing, the jury could not convict a defendant of murder if it believes he did not stab Crippen.

The robbery charge stems from a confrontation with Alex Salazar. So the jury also has to determine whether it believes the defendants robbed Salazar.

Deputy District Attorney Marlisa Ferreira has told the jury that Salazar was attacked by the defendants shortly before 8:30 p.m. Jan. 29, 2013, at Creekwood Park. The prosecutor has said they took Salazar’s cellphone and pocket knife; police later found Salazar’s phone at Koplen’s home.

Mark Sullivan, Segura’s attorney, has told the jury that the defendants fought Salazar over a girl and there was no intent to rob him. Baker called it “a beatdown by three drunken idiots,” not robbery.

The jury also has to decide whether the defendants committed the crimes for the benefit of, or in association with, the Norteño street gang.

The prosecution argued that the defendants’ association with the gang was evident in testimony from their friends, who were reluctant to testify, including one young man who ran out of the courtroom and cried on the witness stand. “They held back. They were afraid,” Ferreira told the jurors last week.

Baker called the prosecution’s gang crime allegation “rubbish.” He has said, “It’s like fairy dust on top of a magic trick that is the felony murder rule.”

In the first three days of deliberations, the jury asked the court to review testimony from Crippen’s girlfriend, Salazar, DNA analysts and Salazar’s friend who picked him up at the park. Tuesday, the jury didn’t ask to review any testimony and went home about 4 p.m. without reaching a verdict.

Last week, Baker urged the jurors not to rush to agree with the rest of the jury to get out of the courthouse quickly and get back to their normal lives. It’s apparent the jury is not rushing to a decision.

Baker argued that someone killed Crippen, and the others didn’t. But he said it’s not clear who stabbed Crippen, so the jury can’t convict them all.

“They’re each individuals; they’re not a wolf pack,” Baker told the jurors. “You don’t convict them just to be on the safe side.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2014 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Jury still deliberating in teen’s Modesto park slaying."