Mistrials

The controversial terrorism prosecution of six South Florida men again ended in uncertainty Wednesday after the second jury selected to hear the case became so divided over the evidence that it could not agree on any verdicts. Weary prosecutors gave no immediate indication whether the government would try the case a third time.

The Barbie vs. Bratz fight in federal court will go on. U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson in Riverside on Monday denied a motion to declare a mistrial sought by the maker of the lucrative Bratz doll, MGA Entertainment Inc., because of a juror's ethnic slur. The jury already had found that MGA and its chief executive, Iranian-born Isaac Larian, had improperly aided a Mattel Inc. Barbie designer who created the concept in violation of his Mattel contract.

A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of four San Diego firefighters who alleged that they were sexually harassed during the 2007 gay pride parade. Jurors deliberated for four days before telling San Diego County Superior Court Judge Michael Anello that they were unable to reach a verdict. One juror told reporters that the jury was split 8 to 4 in favor of the firefighters, one vote short of the nine needed to decide a civil case.

A mistrial was declared Monday in the case of a 61-year-old woman who was charged with murdering her toddler in Huntington Beach nearly 40 years ago, a case that prosecutors said involved a decades-long coverup as the child's father and brother futilely searched for answers. A seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated for nearly eight days before informing Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard M.

Merck & Co. was granted a mistrial Thursday when a Los Angeles jury couldn't reach a verdict after six days of deliberations in a case over the heart attacks of two men who used the company's Vioxx painkiller. California Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney sent the jury of seven women and five men home after they deadlocked. A lawyer for the plaintiffs said the case would probably be retried in April. Merck, which faces 27,000 Vioxx suits, has won eight of 12 cases tried so far.

A military judge abruptly declared a mistrial Wednesday in the court-martial of an Army lieutenant who refused orders to go to Iraq, a ruling that handed a temporary reprieve to the elated officer and left military prosecutors visibly stunned. The decision by the judge, Lt. Col. John Head, turned on the contentious issue of whether factual stipulations agreed to earlier by the prosecutors and the defense team amounted to a confession of guilt by 1st Lt.

An Orange County jury deadlocked Monday on whether to convict a former congressional aide on charges he molested a 14-year-old boy he met in an Internet chat room, leading the judge to declare a mistrial. Jurors had deliberated less than three days when they sent a note to Superior Court Judge Craig Robison just before noon Monday saying they could not reach a verdict on any of the six charges against Jeffrey Nielsen. Paul S.

A mistrial was declared Wednesday in the case of a woman charged in the 1969 murder of her toddler in Huntington Beach, a case that prosecutors say involved a lifelong coverup that left the girl's father and brother in a long search for answers. An Orange County jury deliberated about 15 hours over four days before informing Superior Court Judge James A. Stotler that they were hopelessly deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of convicting Donna Prentice. Deputy Dist. Atty.

After a six-month trial, jurors were dismissed Tuesday after failing to reach a verdict on the fates of two remaining defendants charged with attempting to blow up portions of London's public transit system in 2005. On Monday, four plotters were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. They are to be sentenced today. Their lawyers had contended the bombs, which failed to explode, were meant to scare the public rather than cause physical damage.

A judge declared a mistrial in the case of three former Peregrine Systems Inc. executives and an auditor accused of conspiracy and fraud in the accounting scandal that forced the software maker into bankruptcy. U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan in San Diego said the jury was hopelessly deadlocked after two weeks of deliberations.