Bigelow v. Superior Court

Opinion

BRAUER,

Petitioner, Jerry D. Bigelow, was tried for murder, robbery and kidnapping. The jury convicted him of robbery and kidnapping, but the following bizarre circumstances resulted in a mistrial on the murder charge: The jury had first submitted a verdict which acquitted Bigelow of murder, but found that the charged special circumstances existed. While the trial court and counsel attempted, over a period of one and one-half days, to resolve the inconsistency, one of the jurors changed his or her mind. Accordingly the jury then stood deadlocked 11-1 on the murder count and the court…