San Benito County Superior Court visiting Judge Alan Hedegard on
Friday declared a mistrial in the misdemeanor case of San Juan
Bautista Mayor George Dias when the jury was deadlocked 10-2 in
favor of conviction after more than a day of deliberations.
San Benito County Superior Court visiting Judge Alan Hedegard on Friday declared a mistrial in the misdemeanor case of San Juan Bautista Mayor George Dias when the jury was deadlocked 10-2 in favor of conviction after more than a day of deliberations.
Hedegard scheduled another trial for Dias to start at 9 a.m. May 15. When asked by Hedegard for a vote count before his ruling, the jury forewoman indicated there was a 10-2 split on the panel in favor of conviction.
Dias is accused of a misdemeanor charge of resisting a peace officer causing serious injury in connection with an April 2007 confrontation involving a sheriff’s deputy.
After more than two days of testimony, the jury began deliberations Wednesday afternoon, and Hedegard had sent members home two days running before a conclusion. The jury reconvened Friday morning, but shortly after, at 9:45 a.m., they reentered the courtroom.
Hedegard asked members whether they could come to a unanimous decision if he sent them back into deliberations, and all 12 jurors shook their heads to indicate they could not. The judge then declared it a mistrial.
Dias’ attorney Larry Biegel believes a new trial is unwarranted because the prosecution couldn’t gain a consensus and he said “two votes are as good as anything.” Deputy District Attorney Patrick Palacios, meanwhile, called the 10-2 split a “pretty strong indication” of the jury’s feeling on the case.
Biegel, though, said he and Dias will be ready to fight the charge again if necessary.
“We’re prepared to go to trial a second and a third time and a fourth time if that’s what it takes,” said Biegel, who thinks the case should be dropped because Dias “didn’t do anything wrong.”
Dias was arrested April 14, 2007, after firefighters and sheriff’s deputies responded to a trailer fire on his property in San Juan Bautista. According to sheriff’s deputies, Dias refused to leave the area around his burning trailer and when Deputy Jason Leist tried to arrest him for interfering with firefighters, he resisted. After a scuffle, deputies reported, both Leist and Dias fell into a thorny rose bush. Leist suffered cuts to his face from the thorns and received stitches in his ear and cheek after the incident.
At the time, Dias was a councilman and had been negotiating a new law enforcement contract with the sheriff’s office. He had been supportive of eliminating their services in favor of forming a San Juan police department.
Editor Kollin Kosmicki contributed to this report.
