After a nearly three-week break, the jury in the trial of the off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer who fatally shot an intellectually disabled man and wounded his parents in the Costco in Corona is scheduled to resume deliberations on Thursday, Jan. 18.
Jurors last deliberated on Dec. 29. Then, because of an undisclosed scheduling issue, deliberations were postponed to Thursday, Jan. 18.
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The trial had been expected to finish before the new year, so it’s likely that at least one juror or lawyer or Superior Court Judge Jason L. Stone had a conflict that could not be resolved.
Salvador Alejandro Sanchez, 33, is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of Kenneth French, who, unprovoked, slugged Sanchez as the officer held his toddler son in the samples line in the deli on June 14, 2019. Sanchez fell to the floor, pulled out his service weapon and fired 10 times, striking French and his parents, Paola and Russell.
The prosecutor, Deputy Attorney General Mike Murphy, told jurors that Sanchez acted in haste, that the danger had passed and that his use of deadly force was unreasonable. Defense attorney Michael Schwartz contended that Sanchez was defending not only himself, but also his son. Schwartz said that Sanchez, after getting hit in the head, looked up from the floor and saw Kenneth French in a fighting stance.
Relatives have described French, 32, as “a gentle giant.”
Jurors have submitted seven questions to the judge. The wording of the questions is confidential, but Stone referred jurors to specific sections of the jury instructions that included the definitions of self-defense and voluntary manslaughter.
“Belief in future harm is not sufficient, no matter how great or how likely the harm is believed to be,” the jury instructions say about self-defense. “The defendant must have believed there was imminent danger of bodily injury. Defendant’s belief must have been reasonable. If the defendant used more force than was reasonable, the defendant did not act in self-defense.”
The case is being tried at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Sanchez was fired from his job after L.A. city officials determined that the shooting was not within department policy.
