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Indybay Feature
Wed Sep 19 2007 (Updated 09/20/07)
Hung Jury in Rod Coronado Free Speech Case
Mistrial in Rod Coronado Free Speech Case
On September 19th, after more than 2 full days of deliberation, a 12-person jury informed Judge Jeffrey Miller they were hopelessly deadlocked, and had determined that further deliberation would not deliver unanimity. Outside the courtroom, attorneys were informed that the majority was voting for acquittal of the environmental and animal rights activist who was on trial for a speech he gave in San Diego in 2003. In order to convict under the obscure statute, the jury would have had to determine on three criteria: that his speech was instructive, that he had intent to incite those present to violent action, and that the incitement was to imminent action. Otherwise, such speech is protected under the First Amendment.

Omar Figueroa, an attorney on the legal team said, "We had a good jury and they upheld the Constitution. It's a great day for Constitutional Rights."

Attorney Tony Serra, who was also part of the legal team, said, "If these prosecutors opt to re-try this case, then they are the puppets we know they are, in the business of suppressing Constitutional rights. We hung the jury probably 10-2 or 9-3 (that specific information was not available from the jurors), so we know they can never win. So they would be fools to retry, but this is political and their agenda is political. If they re-try, we will win again.”
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