The police corruption retrial of the Oakland "Riders" ended on May 19th in the same way the original proceedings did, with a jury acquitting on some of the charges and stalemated on the bulk of the counts. The jury reported that it was intractably divided on 13 of the 16 felony charges in the case against Clarence "Chuck" Mabanag, Jude Siapno and Matthew Hornung. The jury was evenly split on whether the former OPD officers conspired to subvert justice by lying in reports to cover up beatings and bolster bogus arrests. Mabanag and Siapno have been ordered to return go back before the same judge for a June 2 hearing on whether the DA will seek a third trial on any of the unresolved criminal counts. The judge left in place a gag order barring those involved in the proceedings from speaking about the case outside court.

The first Riders trial took over a year and ended in September 2003 with acquittals on eight criminal counts and a polarized jury deadlocked on the remaining charges. This first retrial started in November of 2004. It is now up to Alameda County District Attorney Thomas Orloff to decide whether to invest in a third Riders police corruption trial after jurors deadlocked on the majority of the charges in the case.

Hornung, Siapno and Mabanag and alleged Riders ringleader Frank Vazquez were charged with conspiring to cover for each other by lying in police reports to justify specious drug arrests or hide unwarranted uses of force. They were fired from the Oakland Police Department and then criminally charged after an investigation triggered by the resignation of a new officer. The city is already talking about getting the officers their jobs back.

Read more | Report | Indybay coverage of 2003 acquittal | Indybay coverage from 2002 Jury Selection | Coverage from before beginning of trial