San Diego

A jury deadlocked 8 to 4 for conviction on a second-degree murder charge in the trial of San Diego Police Officer Pablo Agrio in the slaying of his wife.

“It now appears to the court this jury is hopelessly deadlocked,” said San Diego Superior Court Judge William Kennedy, after discussing the situation with jurors.

Jurors found Agrio, 29, of Paradise Hills, not guilty of first-degree murder, but that verdict had not been sought by the prosecutor in his closing argument last week.

Several jurors contacted after Kennedy declared a mistrial said that none of the jurors believed Agrio’s story that the March 26 shooting of his wife, Alma Agrio, 23, was accidental. Alma Agrio was a sheriff’s cadet at the time.

Kennedy ordered the attorneys and Agrio to report back to court Nov. 15 to set a date for a retrial.

Agrio has been suspended from the Police Department since being charged with murder. He remains free on $60,000 bail.

Jurors said eight members of the panel thought Agrio should be convicted of second-degree murder; two believed he was guilty of voluntary manslaughter; two held out for an involuntary manslaughter conviction.

“We didn’t have any tempers flying. We had a very lively discussion,” juror Dale Dickerson said afterward.

“We definitely feel it wasn’t an accidental shooting. A lot of people felt part of (Agrio’s) testimony was true, and a lot said it wasn’t true.”

“The jury indicated they had some problem dealing with the concept with malice aforethought,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Rooten said.

“I’m always disappointed with a hung jury. It means we’ll have to expend a lot of resources and retry the case,” Rooten said.

The foreman told the judge that the jury had taken four ballots over four days of discussions.