By Diana Marrero, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Miami -- A federal jury in the Miami police corruption trial has reached a verdict on seven of 11 officers accused of planting guns on unarmed men or plotting to cover up four questionable shootings.
On the 11th day of deliberations Tuesday, jurors sent a note to U.S. District Judge Alan Gold that they had also reached a verdict on two of four charges against another officer but were deadlocked on the charges against three others.
Gold said he would keep the verdicts sealed while jurors try to resolve their differences on the remaining charges.
“It is your duty to agree upon a verdict if you can do so,” Gold told the remaining 11 jurors. One juror has been dismissed.
After an arduous three-month trial, the revelation that the jury might soon disclose the officers’ fates put people in the courtroom on edge. Officers and their attorneys became visibly tense, and several family members began to cry.
The officers are accused of conspiring with each other to cover up four shootings that left three men dead and one wounded from 1995 to 1997. Different sets of officers are accused in each of the shootings.
The case -- South Florida’s biggest police corruption trial in years -- is such a sensitive one that Miami-Dade County officials and police are monitoring it and gearing up for a verdict. Worried about how the verdicts will be perceived in a county sometimes plagued by racial friction, the county’s community relations board is planning a public forum to dispel rumors, quell potential community anger and answer questions.
While most of the shooting victims were black, all the officers on trial are Hispanic.
On Tuesday, some of the accused officers seemed to breathe sighs of relief upon hearing that verdicts were in on their cases. The attorneys for two of the officers, Rafael Fuentes and Alex Macias, withdrew their motions for a mistrial Monday despite arguments from the defense attorneys for six other officers that the jury could have been prejudiced by news reports or when someone claiming to be a reporter called at least one juror during deliberations.
Gold denied the requests for a mistrial after confirming with jurors that they had been able to follow his instructions that they steer clear of media coverage of the trial and not speak with anyone about the case.
The judge also released the jury’s note on which defendants it had reached verdicts. The note indicated that the jurors could not agree on whether officers were guilty in the shooting deaths of two young black men killed while trying to get away from police after a smash and grab robbery in 1995.
However, the jury has decided charges in the shooting death of a 72-year-old grandfather suspected of dealing drugs. A 1996 SWAT raid that left the man’s apartment riddled with dozens of bullet holes.
Verdicts also seem to have been reached on three of four officers tied to the 1997 shooting that wounded a homeless man in Coconut Grove when an officer allegedly mistook his Walkman radio for a gun.
It was not clear if the jurors reached verdicts on a 1996 incident, in which an officer fired at a fleeing purse-snatcher but missed. No defendants were specifically charged in that incident, but it is part of the overall conspiracy allegation.
The jury reached unanimous verdicts on officers Jesse Aguero, Arturo Beguiristain, Jorge Castello, Fuentes, Eli Lopez, Macias and Oscar Ronda. Jurors told the judge they had reached a partial verdict on Jose Acuna but were deadlocked on two of four counts against him. The jury also could not agree on charges against Jorge Garcia, Israel Gonzalez and Jose Quintero.
If convicted, 10 officers could face up to 10 years in prison and one faces a potential five-year sentence.