Jurors Ordered to Keep Deliberating in Stalled Solomon Murder Trial

When it comes to evidence in a murder trial, prosecutors say that few exhibits are more valuable than a taped confession made to police.

But in the case of Kenneth Solomon, a South-Central Los Angeles man charged in the 1982 slaying of Princeton University basketball player Lawrence Raphael, a taped confession is itself proving the object of controversy.

Solomon, 28, has mounted an unusual defense--that the voice on the tape is not his.

Jurors, who finished their seventh day of deliberations Wednesday, sent a note to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul Turner late in the day stating that they are hopelessly deadlocked. Turner told them to report again at 10:30 a.m. today.

Solomon and alleged triggerman Ozell (Junebug) Johnson, 29, who will be tried separately, were arrested in February, 1984, for the slaying of the former Fairfax High School basketball player, who was returning with his girlfriend to her Hancock Park home after having gone out for ice cream.

Shot in the Head

While Raphael was still in the car, authorities say, an assailant shot him in the head with a handgun and then pulled him out of the car and rummaged through his pockets before fleeing.

According to the tape introduced as evidence by Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen M. Barshop, Solomon and Johnson, both allegedly under the influence of PCP, were riding in a car, seeking potential robbery victims when they happened upon Raphael.

“I know I was high,” the voice on the tape said. “The next thing I knew, we was on our way to go rob somebody.”

But taking the witness stand in his own defense, Solomon denied ever having made the confession and theorized that someone else’s voice was on the tape.

The Solomon case, in which jurors first indicated they were at an impasse late last week, has also featured a second highly unusual wrinkle.

The judge, beset with questions from the panel, reopened the trial Wednesday for additional arguments from both Barshop and defense counsel Albert DeBlanc Jr.

‘Brand-New Area’

“This (additional arguments) is a brand-new area; I’ve never seen this happen before,” said DeBlanc, who objected to Turner’s decision before making a 10-minute address in which he cautioned jurors to stick to their convictions.

Barshop, who termed the reopening “unusual--but that doesn’t mean it’s illegal,” conceded that if the jury now finds Solomon guilty, the judge’s action will likely become “a major appellate issue.”

Turner said he was allowing the brief arguments because the jurors’ questions--most of them concerning such legal issues as criminal intent and reasonable doubt--had been unexpected and were not discussed during previous arguments to the jury.

Solomon, a former Internal Revenue Service clerk, was arrested after he allegedly made statements to an inmate, Alytino Brown, while he was jailed on another matter. Solomon denied on the witness stand that he ever met Brown. The case was further buttressed, according to Barshop, by a taped confession made to two police officers and admitted into evidence. Solomon denies having made the confession.

Confession Discussed

The confession was referred to during closing arguments, when DeBlanc told the jury that Barshop had not produced an expert witness on voice prints. Turner immediately called the lawyers aside and--out of earshot of the jury--pointed out that voice prints are not admissible as evidence. Turner next instructed the jury to disregard DeBlanc’s statement. But the judge did not specifically inform the jury about the inadmissibility of voice prints.

The issue resurfaced after the panel began its deliberations. In a list of questions and notes sent to Turner early last week, one juror suggested that both DeBlanc and Turner believed the tape was phony.

Turner emphatically responded to the jury that if they believed he had an opinion either way on the tape’s authenticity, “You’re wrong, just plain wrong.”

During the reopened arguments, Barshop told the jury that it would be unreasonable for them to believe that police officers would risk ruining their careers by doctoring a taped confession.

Indicated Deadlock

Last Friday, jury members informed Turner that they were hopelessly deadlocked. But after a brief discussion--during which they informed the judge that they had voted 7 to 5 on the murder charge and 9 to 3 on an attempted robbery charge--the judge told them to continue deliberating. On both counts, the jurors did not indicate whether they leaned toward conviction or acquittal.

DeBlanc, who said he will appeal if Solomon is convicted, said he believes the jurors’ hang-ups concern witness credibility rather than the tape itself.

Brown, DeBlanc said, stands to receive $35,000 in rewards if Solomon is found guilty. A second witness, with whom Solomon had briefly resided, acknowledged on the witness stand that she hated the defendant, DeBlanc added.