December 20, 2002
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Jury Unable to Agree in Threat Case
Jurors can't decide whether the violent rhetoric
of South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles was
criminal. Mistrial is declared.
By Richard Marosi, Times Staff Writer
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.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-robles20dec20,0,2963975.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia
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