A jury ended the week without a
verdict in the trial of a former West Sacramento police officer accused of
raping multiple women while on duty.
WOODLAND, Calif. - A Yolo
County jury ended the week without a verdict in the trial of a former West
Sacramento police officer charged with raping multiple women while on duty.
The jury began deliberating
last Friday in the case of Sergio Alvarez. They've had the case for five days
(Presidents Day was a holiday), but experts say that isn't surprising for a
trial this complex.
The jury spent several weeks
listening to testimony from five alleged victims who accused Alvarez of rape,
kidnapping, and related charges. Alvarez faces 27 counts. The jury has a lot of
information to consider.
"The jury will be allowed
to continue to deliberate as long as the foreperson of the jury reports to the
judge that continued deliberations will be beneficial to the jury in reaching a
verdict," former U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said.
At this point in the
deliberations, there could be a majority of votes on one side that just need a
little more time to win over those in the minority.
"But then the other
scenario would be that that one simply says, 'this is my verdict; I'm not
changing my mind'. It's 11 to 1, and then at that point, you have a hung jury
and an impasse, and the judge brings them in, and typically after this lengthy
of deliberations would declare a mistrial," Scott said.
No one can be sure what the
jury is thinking or how much longer they'll take. Antoinnette Borbon writes for
the Davis Vanguard. She was in court for most of the Alvarez trial and studied
the jury closely.
"During trial, some of
them looked pretty convinced that they felt he was guilty, but you never know.
Body language can be a tell-tale, but once they get behind there and having to
look at everything, you got pages and pages of transcripts to look at,"
Borbon said.
With 27 different counts to
weigh, the jury could convict on all, some, or none of them. Even if jurors
reach a partial verdict, the prosecution would have the option of retrying
anything that is left undecided.
Deliberations resume Monday.
