In July 2017, two individuals robbed and killed photographer Edward French on the Twin Peaks lookout in San Francisco. Though they allegedly had the homicide captured on video, the latest trial in opposition to the 2 suspects led to a hung jury.
[Related reading: Video evidence surfaces against two suspects arrested in fatal shooting of California photographer]
The backstory
Edward French was a 71-year-old photographer and a movie location scout. On July 16, 2017, he was taking dawn pictures from Twin Peaks when two individuals attacked him. A police spokesperson on the time stated {that a} younger man and girl approached him, stole his digicam, and shot him.
The photographer was discovered unconscious by a passing jogger, who started administering CPR. French was quickly rushed to a hospital, however he didn’t survive.
In accordance with the stories on the time, 19-year-old Lamone Mims, and 20-year-old Fantasy Decuir of San Francisco had been discovered responsible of the crime. They had been arrested a number of weeks later and charged with the homicide. KTVU reported on the time that they had been caught because of leads from an armed theft on July 28, after they attacked a 53-year-old man and 33-year-old girl.
The prosecution additionally stated that the pair had French’s homicide on video. As The Bay Space Reporter writes, the video reveals Decuir taking pictures the photographer after Mims took his digicam.
The trial
On Might 22, 2023, Mims was convicted of second-degree theft in relation to French, however the jury couldn’t attain a verdict for Decuir on the identical cost, with a vote of 10-2. The jury held on the homicide expenses, voting 10-2 in favor of convicting Mims and Decuir of murdering Ed French. Nevertheless, a unanimous verdict is required for conviction.
Mims’ lawyer Paul Demeester, instructed the Bay Space Reporter that his shopper “was not the one who shot Mr. French, as may be clearly seen on the video.”
“It was Fantasy Decuir who clearly shot Mr. French on Sunday morning at Twin Peaks. Mims could solely be discovered responsible of felony homicide — first-degree homicide — if the particular person was a serious participant, which we conceded, and acted with reckless indifference.”
Decuir’s lawyer Mark Iverson quoted medical points. He claims that Decuir suffers from sickle-cell illness; she’d reportedly acquired excessive doses of an opioid treatment earlier than the homicide, which led to nullified culpability.
“What was proven in proof was that Fantasy was within the hospital for some days — as late because the afternoon of July 14 — and he or she was given intravenously heavy doses of ache treatment, Dilaudid, and that’s method up there by way of ache treatment, and various attending physicians testified in regards to the therapy she acquired within the week main as much as July 16, when Mr. French was killed.
The authorized protection of unconsciousness we introduced on behalf of Ms. Decuir concerned the interplay of the acute ache Ms. Decuir skilled throughout that point from her sickle-cell illness and the big quantities of opiates prescribed and administered to her to alleviate her ache. Her skill to handle this medical disaster and her withdrawal from opiates was severely compromised by her mental incapacity.”
French’s household reactions: “It was disbelief”
Edward French’s sister, Lorrie French, was shocked by the trial outcomes. “You don’t need to know what my ideas had been,” she instructed The Bay Space Reporter. The photographer’s companion Brian Higginbotham, stated that he was in disbelief. “Let’s not overlook they killed him in July, [police] caught them in August, and in two months it’ll be six lengthy years we’ve been ready,” he instructed The Bay Space Reporter. “There’s video, there’s audio and there’s a compelling witness assertion. … We’re all very upset, there’s lots of people following this case.”
Lorrie French and Higginbotham recalled the protection bringing in a medical knowledgeable who claimed that Decuir’s sickle-cell illness led her to suppose that “she was dreaming and didn’t understand she killed somebody.” French referred to as it “laughable,” claiming that there was no method Decuir was unconscious.
What occurs subsequent?
As I didn’t know what occurs when the jury is hung, I regarded it up. As FIJA explains, within the case of a hung jury, the choose could ask the jurors to proceed deliberating, normally for a restricted variety of instances. If the jury nonetheless can not attain a verdict, the choose will ultimately declare a mistrial because of the hung jury. It’s value noting, although, that mistrials can happen for different causes as nicely.
Throughout a mistrial, the defendant is neither convicted nor acquitted. An acquittal happens when a “not responsible” verdict is reached and can’t be challenged by the prosecution, overturned by the choose, or retried. Nevertheless, within the case of a mistrial, there’s a risk for the case to be retried.
Fortunately, this trial continues, and the subsequent listening to within the case is scheduled for July 7.
[via PetaPixel]