With jurors saying they were hopelessly deadlocked, a mistrial was declared Tuesday in the trial of a Cathedral City man accused of gunning down four people in Palm Springs.

Jurors deliberated over the course of seven days in the trial of Jose Vladimir Larin-Garcia, 22, who is charged with four-counts of first degree murder for the Feb. 3, 2019, deaths of Jacob Montgomery, 19, Juan Duarte Raya, 18, Yuliana Garcia, 17, and Carlos Campos Rivera, 25. The charges include a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.

On Tuesday morning, the jury notified Riverside County Superior Court Judge Anthony Villalobos that they were unable to reach a verdict. The judge spoke with the panel and gave them additional instructions and asked them to resume deliberations.

But a short time later, the jury reported no progress and indicated they were hopelessly deadlocked. Villalobos dismissed the panel, thanking them for their service. He later scheduled Larin-Garcia for a trial-readiness conference on June 17 to begin the re-trial process.

During two days of closing arguments, Deputy District Attorney Samantha Paixao said three of the shooting victims were found in a Toyota Corolla that crashed at Sunny Dunes and El Placer roads at about 11:40 p.m. the day of the killings, while the fourth victim — Rivera — was located 30 minutes later lying on a street about a half-mile away.

Montgomery, Raya and Garcia were killed inside the car, authorities said. The latter was pregnant. Paixao said Larin-Garcia was inside the Toyota with the three victims, and that Montgomery was planning to make a drug deal. The defendant was in the back seat when he allegedly fatally shot Rivera, who was leaning against the car on Canon Drive, south of Theresa Drive, Paixao said. After the shooting, the driver of the Toyota sped off, but Larin-Garcia allegedly shot the driver as well as the other two occupants, then jumped from the moving car before it crashed into a parked Jeep at Sunny Dunes and El Placer roads, according to the prosecution.

According to Paixao, blood on Larin-Garcia’s shoes and jacket had the DNA of the victims on it, placing him inside the vehicle at the time of the murder. She further argued that bullet casings at the crime scene match those that were found in the defendant’s bedroom and vehicle, further attaching him to the events.

Larin-Garcia’s defense attorney, John Dolan, asserted during his closing argument that the blood splatter identified on Larin-Garcia’s clothing did not prove murder, and there was no search for a gun the prosecution claims he used in the crime, only bullet casings.

An undercover officer who spoke with Larin-Garcia while posing as a jail inmate testified that the defendant admitted fearing that officers had obtained his gun as evidence, though Larin-Garcia never admitted to a specific crime and the gun has never been found. Dolan also pointed to social media posts and messages allegedly made by John Olvera, now 18 but then 15, suggesting they implicate him in the killings.

Dolan pointed to a private conversation between Olvera and a woman, in which Olvera allegedly said, “Jacob thought I was playin’ — he shouldn’t have had a kid female in the car cuz he knew I was gonna get him…” and “I never meant that girl to die…” The message allegedly referred to one of the shooting victims, Jacob Montgomery. Olvera denied any involvement in the killings, saying any posts on Facebook and Instagram suggesting anything to the contrary were unfounded boasts or lyrics by rapper Young Boy.

Paixao also dismissed the messages during closing arguments, saying facts in the case did not align with what Olvera claimed occurred. For instance, Olvera claims he was shot at first when evidence only indicates one firearm was involved.

Dolan claimed that Olvera was an unreliable witness during the trial and that his testimony should not be trusted, only his social media posts taking credit for the homicides. Dolan further argued that police did not properly investigate Olvera when they found the posts, casting reasonable doubt on whether or not his client committed the crime.

He created a scene for the jury in which Olvera was in the middle seat of the car shooting the passengers, and that Larin-Garcia jumped from the vehicle when the killings began. Paixao argued that no evidence was present to suggest a fifth person was in the vehicle, pointing to eyewitness testimony of only four people being present. According to preliminary hearing testimony, Larin-Garcia was found by officers hiding under a pickup just blocks from the scene of the Toyota crash. He was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries but wasn’t arrested.

The defendant left the hospital after being questioned by Palm Springs police, going to a friend’s house.

Detective Steve Grissom testified that the friend went to the defendant’s mother’s home to retrieve fresh clothing and an ID card for the defendant. Later in the day, the friend also bought bandages for Larin-Garcia, along with a Greyhound bus ticket to Florida under the name” Joseph Browning,” Grissom testified.

At some point that day, Larin-Garcia shaved his head to change his appearance, then the friend drove him to the bus station in Indio, where he was arrested, Grissom testified.

Larin-Garcia remains held without bail at the Benoit Detention Center in Indio.

Palms Springs City | Contributed

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John Gumina pleaded guilty to the killing of his wife, Heather Gumina, in a courtroom filled with her family and friends. The husband also pled guilty to two separate incidents of felony domestic violence against the woman. The press release details the consistent record of violence in their relationship.

It notes that in January of 2019, months before the murder, he tackled her to the ground, before kicking in the locked bathroom where she and her 4-year-old child were hiding.

She called the police regarding that incident, which led to Gumina getting arrested and charged with felony domestic violence. He was released from custody shortly after.

The pair reconciled and married the following month.

“Then, on July 15, 2019, while the January domestic violence incident was still pending, Gumina broke Heather-Waters’s collarbone,” the press release states. The district attorney’s office noted that she didn’t call 911 this time. Instead, she texted her mother while in the hospital that Gumina “tried to kill me” by strangling her over and over until she almost passed out.

The next morning, after she was released from the hospital, “Gumina and Heather argued in front of Heather’s mother about her broken collarbone and how that would look to the District Attorney in Gumina’s pending case,” according to the press release.

“After her mother left, Gumina killed Heather in cold blood,” the district attorney’s office states. “Right after the murder, Gumina called Heather’s mother proclaiming that Heather took off and was missing, executing his plot to attempt to cover up his crime.”

Gumina gave a statement in court this week during his guilty plea, explaining that he “slammed her down onto the floor” and used his forearm to hold “Heather’s right arm over her head by pressing down on her throat and arm at the same time” until she stopped breathing.

“He admitted he then put a rope around her neck to help move her out of the house. Gumina blamed Heather for her own brutal murder, saying she had hurt “his pride and honor,” the press release states.

A little more than seven weeks after the murder, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Detectives found Gumina-Waters’ body buried several feet in the dirt on a nearby property, wrapped in carpet and with a noose around her neck. “She was still wearing her hospital ID bracelet, smock and sling” from the prior incident of domestic violence. Gumina is scheduled to be sentenced to 30 years to life on Sept. 3.

Earlier this month, the El Dorado Sheriff’s Department said in a press release that they found new evidence in the murder which resulted in the arrest of Justin Kremer, 40. He has been charged with accessory to murder. Investigators have not released how Kremer knew the victim or her husband.

“At this time, no further details are being released regarding Kremer’s involvement,” the sheriff’s department told Oxygen.com via email earlier this month.

Heather had three children, who were ages 4, 10 and 14 when she died. She worked as a waitress and her former boss said she tried to work despite being injured.

“I called her and talked to her and she’s like, “I can still come to work.’ And I’m like, ‘You can’t come to work with a broken collarbone,’” Jennette Waldow said.

“My daughter was one of the most giving, loyal people I’ve ever known,” her mother Joanna Russel previously said. “I’m going to grieve for a very long time. It’s like the world’s worst nightmare.

Floyd Levinson | Contributed

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota’s pardon board decided Tuesday to free a Black man who was sent to prison for life as a teenager in a high-profile murder case that raised questions about the integrity of the criminal justice system that put him away.

Myon Burrell’s case made headlines earlier this year after The Associated Press and American Public Media uncovered new evidence and serious flaws in the police investigation into the 2002 killing of an 11-year-old girl who was hit by a stray bullet while doing homework at her dining room table.

Burrell went before the Minnesota Board of Pardons with a request for a pardon and commutation to time already served. He said the request “is not in any way, shape or form me trying to minimize the tragedy of the loss of” Tysha Edwards. “I come before you, a 34-year-old man who spent more than half of his life incarcerated for a crime I didn’t commit.”

The board commuted his sentence to 20 years, with the remainder to be served on supervised release. He was expected to be released from the state’s Stillwater prison Tuesday night. The board did not pardon Burrell.

A unanimous vote is normally required by the governor, attorney general and the chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea has recused herself from the decision.

Gov. Tim Walz recommended the commuted sentence, saying science has found and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that teenage minds work differently than those of adults, and that a life sentence for a teenager is too extreme.

“While this board is not a fact finder, it does have the power to determine when justice is served through the power of clemency and mercy,” Walz said, adding: “We cannot turn a blind eye to the developments in science and law as we look at this case.”

Last week, an independent panel of national legal experts also recommended Burrell’s immediate release after reviewing the facts and all of the available evidence.

Burrell was 16 when he was sentenced in the killing of Tyesha, a Black sixth grader who was shot through the heart inside her family’s south Minneapolis home. He always maintained his innocence, and another man has confessed to being the shooter.

Burrell’s petition was accompanied by testimony from community leaders and letters from other young men in prison attesting to his strong character and moral leadership behind bars.

“I just tried to be the best human being that I could be in hopes that one day I would be given the opportunity to go home and live life as a productive member of society,” Burrell told the panel in a Zoom video call from inside the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Stillwater.

Walz addressed the Edwards family during the hearing, saying: “We’re not here to relitigate the crime committed against your family that took your daughter away. There is nothing I can do to ease your pain, and it will not be made better. But we must act today to recognize the law in this area has changed. Justice is not served by incarcerating a child for his entire lifetime for a horrible mistake committed many years ago.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who was the city’s top prosecutor at the time of the killing, has used Burrell’s conviction throughout her political career to tout her record of being tough on crime. She raised it again last year on the stage of the Democratic presidential primary debate.

The AP’s yearlong investigation, however, showed there was no hard evidence — no gun, DNA or fingerprints — tying Burrell to the shooting. Among other things, police did not collect a corner store’s surveillance video, which Burrell said could have cleared him. And video footage showed the lead homicide detective offering a man in police custody $500 for Burrell’s name, even if it was just hearsay.

Burrell’s co-defendants said the teenager was not at the scene that day.

Klobuchar released a statement saying the board made the right decision.

“Along with others, I had asked for the independent investigation of this case, and as I said when the report was first released, the sentence deserved immediate review. That happened today,” she said. She also urged a conviction review unit to continue investigating the facts.

New questions about Burrell’s case surfaced just before Minneapolis was thrust into the national spotlight after a police officer held his knee against George Floyd’s neck outside a convenience store as Floyd gasped for breath. It was the same Cup Foods store that Burrell said could have provided his alibi if surveillance tapes had been pulled.

Floyd’s death sparked racial injustice protests and put renewed focus on some law enforcement practices from the 1990s and early 2000s, when harsher policing and tougher sentencing led to the highest lock-up rates in the nation’s history. Those incarcerations hit Black and brown communities the hardest.

Under public pressure after the AP report, Klobuchar threw her support behind the creation of the independent panel, saying it was just as important to protect the innocent as punish the guilty. In its report, the panel raised concerns about the police investigation that mirrored many of those uncovered by the AP.

The panel’s report said officers suffered from “tunnel vision” while pursuing Burrell as a suspect, homing in on evidence that supported their theory of guilt and ignoring that which may have helped him. Officers relied heavily on a single eyewitness, who offered conflicting accounts, along with jailhouse informants, who benefited generously for testifying.

Two of the informants have since recanted. One had his 16-year prison sentence cut down to three. Another said he was cooperating with police in 14 other cases.

The panel said it saw no purpose served by keeping Burrell locked up. It pointed to his age at the time of the crime, said he had no prior record and that he behaved well behind bars. It also cited U.S. Supreme Court rulings in recent years that argued against overly harsh sentences for juveniles because their brains and decision-making skills are not fully developed.

“In considering the sentence, we became profoundly aware of how our nation has changed in the way we consider juveniles who become enmeshed in the criminal justice system,” Mark Osler, who chaired the panel, wrote in the Minneapolis Star Tribune this past weekend.

Burrell was jailed during an era “marked by racially charged fearmongering about young ‘super-predators’ who would be violent for the entirety of their lives,” Osler wrote.

In the panel’s report, members of Tyesha Edwards’ family said Burrell’s continued imprisonment was a sensitive topic.

The girl’s biological father, Jimmie Edwards, said before the hearing that he opposed any release and that the process of having the case reexamined has been taxing. He said Tyesha had been doing well in school and was well-liked by classmates and teachers.

Burrell “just wants a free ticket out of prison,” Edwards told AP. “But he took something from us that can never be replaced.” He declined to comment after Tuesday’s decision.

___

Associated Press writers Amy Forliti and Mohamed Ibrahim contributed to this report.

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