Melvin Mario James Landry, 42, of San Jacinto allegedly killed Gilbert Wah in 2020.

A Banning jury deliberated two days in January before deadlocking, after which Riverside County Superior Court Judge Rene Navarro declared a mistrial.

The case was transferred a week ago from the Banning Justice Center to the Riverside Hall of Justice, where Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz began summoning panels of prospective jurors for screening as to their availability and qualifications.

The judge is expected to swear in a panel Monday afternoon, with opening statements possible Tuesday morning.

Landry, who is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail, is charged with murder and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.

According to a trial brief filed by the prosecution, on the night of July 23, 2020, Wah, his wife, Octavia Wah, and Landry got together at the victim’s house at 801 S. Camino Los Banos to “drink alcohol and smoke marijuana.”

The defense said in its brief Landry was in the midst of a divorce from his wife, Sylvia Joshua, because “he was caught cheating” on her. He was also suffering depression from the recent death of his mother and was upset that his sister had moved out of the area.

As he, the victim and Octavia Wah drank and smoked long into the night, tensions escalated due to Gilbert Wah’s references to Landry as a “pussy” and “bitch” — demeaning terms used to describe the defendant’s relationship with his wife, according to the prosecution’s brief.

Shortly after 3 a.m. on July 24, Wah became aggressive, slapping Landry across the face, the brief stated.

The defendant did not hit back, but instead went to his Dodge Durango pickup parked in front of the house, grabbed a semiautomatic handgun, then returned to the house and confronted Wah, firing a single shot into his heart, prosecutors allege.

The victim died on the spot.

His wife struck Landry and attempted to stop him from leaving, but he got away from her in his pickup. She called 911, and patrol deputies converged on the location.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Thurm said as personnel were gearing up to begin a search, Landry “returned to the scene and surrendered.”

Court records show the defendant has a prior misdemeanor conviction in Riverside County for driving under the influence. He has a felony conviction in another jurisdiction, but the offense wasn’t listed.

Court papers indicated Wah, too, had a record, including battery on a peace officer in another state, as well as a fraud conviction locally.

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In the sentencing hearing, the victim’s stepmother and father gave their testimonies. They both highlighted how much the victim meant to them, and how his death had torn their family apart.

The victim’s stepmother emphasized his role as a defender and a protector, especially his ties with a homeless community near where he lived.

The victim had lived in a storm tunnel as a way to cope after the loss of the love of his life, who passed 13 years before his murder. He had two stepchildren and one biological son with her.

Conflict between the victim and Tara started on July 29, 2020, when Tara and another man were involved in a drug-related disagreement that ended with Tara shooting the other man, who survived the murder attempt.

The victim criticized Tara for drawing scrutiny to the homeless population in the storm channel, which was near the scene of the attempted murder.

After multiple disagreeable exchanges online, Tara shot the victim in the storm channel on Aug. 17, 2020. The victim immediately died and Tara was taken into custody ten days later.

The victim’s father hopes that Tara “will never be released in his lifetime.” He even spoke directly to Tara, saying “not only did you take my son from me, but you took your mom’s son from her.”

The victim’s stepmother testified that she “[wants] nothing more than for him to spend the rest of his life paying for what he’s done,” and her wish came true.

Tara was sentenced to life in state prison without parole, and given an additional 57 years set to run consecutively; his charges include first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, firearm advancement, and the discharging of a firearm that caused great bodily harm.

Catherine Hamilton and Amy Berberyan | Contributed

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom can refer to the recall against him as a Republican effort in the state’s official voter guide, a judge said in a tentative ruling released Wednesday.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Laurie M. Earl issued her tentative ruling hours before the parties were set to appear in court for a hearing. Republicans who led the effort to place the recall on the ballot filed a lawsuit to block him from labeling the contest a “Republican recall” in the guide, saying it was false and misleading because the recall is supported by people from various political parties.

The tentative ruling does not immediately take effect. Typically, the parties are given an opportunity in court before a judge issues a final ruling.

But her tentative ruling is likely to mark a win for Newsom, a Democrat who has sought to brand the recall as a power grab driven by Republican extremist. In television ads, he’s linked the recall to the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6 and efforts in Republican-led states to overturn results from the 2020 presidential election. The recall was placed on the ballot through a legal process.

Newsom and Orrin Heatlie, one of the activists who filed the suit, were each allowed to write 500 word arguments in support of and against the recall, which will appear in the voter guide that goes out to registered voters this month. Voters will start receiving ballots in the mail in mid-August; the last day to vote is Sept. 14.

Earl wrote that Heatlie’s suit failed to prove that Newsom’s branding of the effort as Republican was outright false or objectively untrue, rather than typical comments expected in political debate. The suit argued the recall was falsely labeled Republican because nearly half of the 46 candidates vying to replace Newsom are from other parties. Heatlie’s suit also provided declarations from five people who signed the petition who say they are not Republicans.

“The Court has no doubt that not all recall supporters are Republicans,” Earl wrote. “But the challenged arguments do not state or imply that they are.”

Newsom’s statements in the voter guide include labeling the recall “an attempt by national Republicans and Trump supporters to force an election and grab power in California” and says the recall backers are “abusing our recall laws in order to gain power and advance their partisan agenda.”

Newsom lost an earlier court case to get his party affiliation as Democratic next to his name on the ballot. His campaign had failed to file the paperwork in time. But he refers to himself as the Democratic governor in his voter guide argument.

If more than half of voters say “yes” to recalling Newsom, he’ll be forced to leave office more than a year before his first term ends. Then, the replacement candidate with the highest number of votes would become governor.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California prosecutors said Tuesday that they won’t again seek the death penalty against Scott Peterson in the 2002 slaying of his pregnant wife even if he is granted a new trial based on juror misconduct.

But even that declaration wasn’t enough to entirely take a death sentence off the table, Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo said.

“Laws change, district attorneys change,” she said. “I want to make sure that we do this right.”

Massullo is considering when to resentence Peterson to life without parole after Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager said in a court filing Friday that she would not seek to retry the death penalty portion of the case after it was overturned by the state Supreme Court in August.

“From the legal point of view — I hate using this term — it’s a done deal,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Harris told the judge during what was otherwise an unresolved procedural hearing over who will represent Peterson. “He’s no longer eligible to be housed on death row. He’s not going to be subjected to the death penalty.”

As a legal matter, “it would be a violation for us to ‘up’ that punishment” once Peterson is re-sentenced to life in prison, Harris said. “That can’t be changed once it’s relied upon by the other side.”

But Massullo is also considering if Peterson should get an entire new trial because of juror misconduct.

One of Peterson’s defense attorneys, Pat Harris, said that from his legal research it appears prosecutors could again seek the death penalty if they have to retry the entire case, because a new trial “would send it right back to square one.”

The judge said she expects to decide the new trial issue this year, and she put off a decision whether to resentence Peterson before she makes that decision. She set another hearing for June 18.

Massullo is considering whether Peterson merits a new trial because a juror failed to disclose that she had sought a restraining order against her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend in 2000.

The juror said in seeking the order that she feared for her unborn child. Massullo must decide if that amounted to juror misconduct, and if so, whether it was so prejudicial that a new trial is warranted.

With Fladager’s announcement Friday, Peterson will be sentenced to life imprisonment if no new trial is granted.

Peterson, 48, appeared at the hearing through a video link from San Quentin State Prison, home of the state’s death row,. But he offered no verbal response to the district attorney’s decision and ensuing legal discussion. California hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has imposed a moratorium on executions so long as he is governor.

Laci Peterson, 27, was eight months pregnant with their unborn son, Connor, when she was killed. Investigators said that on Christmas Eve 2002, Peterson took the bodies from their Modesto home and dumped them from his fishing boat into San Francisco Bay, where they surfaced months later.

Peterson was convicted in 2005 in San Mateo County after his trial was moved from Stanislaus County because of worldwide pre-trial publicity.

The state Supreme Court overturned Peterson’s death sentence because potential jurors were improperly dismissed after saying they personally disagreed with the death penalty but would be willing to follow the law and impose it. But the justices said there was considerable circumstantial evidence incriminating him.

Pat Harris said he can now show that there was a nearby burglary on the day Laci Peterson disappeared, supporting the defense’s claim that she was killed when she stumbled upon the crime.

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Kenneth Rasmuson, 59, showed no emotion as he was sentenced in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Pomona.

Rasmuson abducted and killed 6-year-old Jeffrey Vargo, who disappeared on July 2, 1981, after he left his house in Anaheim Hills in Orange County to look at a fireworks stand.

His body was found the next day at a construction site in Pomona, in eastern Los Angeles County.

“I had hoped to be at your execution because I wanted to look in your eyes and see the same terror that my son saw at his last moment,” the boy’s father, Bob Vargo, told Rasmuson at the sentencing hearing. “Because of your evil acts, the last time we saw our son was to view his scarred and lifeless body lying in a casket with his favorite toys,”

Rasmuson also kidnapped, stabbed and strangled 6-year-old Miguel Antero, who vanished on April 8, 1986, after stepping off of a school bus near his Agoura Hills home. His body was found that day in a wash near his home in the northwestern county.

His father, Gil Antero, said in court that Miguel was “”caring and full of joy” and said his killing “has shattered our lives to pieces.”

Decades after the boys were killed, DNA evidence linked Rasmuson to the slayings, prosecutors said. In 2015, he was arrested at his parents’ home in Sandpoint, Idaho, where he had been living as a registered sex offender.

Rasmuson pleaded guilty in February to two counts of murder with the special circumstance that he committed multiple killings.

The case was marked by conflict over District Attorney George Gascón’s reform policies — which in general bar the filling of special-circumstance allegations — and prompted the District Attorney of neighboring Orange County to file his own case against Rasmuson out of concern that he might one day be eligible for parole.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said he stood “”shoulder to shoulder” with the families, friends and neighbors of the two boys outside the courthouse and released white balloons in honor of the victims.

“This is what victimization does,” Spitzer wrote on Facebook. “It isn’t just one life interrupted. Or one family. It ripples across families, across neighborhoods, and across entire communities.”

“The pain of losing two beautiful, 6-year-old boys will never go away, but today there was justice for Jeffrey and Miguel,” Spitzer wrote.

Rasmuson spent 17 years in prison for the 1980s molestation of an 11-year-old boy in Santa Barbara County and a 3-year-old Los Angeles boy. After serving his time, he was committed to a state mental hospital as a dangerous sex offender but was released in 2007.

AP News

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