Mistrial Declared in Double-Murder at Newport Shop : Courts: Jurors deliberate for eight days but are almost evenly split in second trial of ex-Marine.

SANTA ANA —  The retrial of a former Marine corporal charged with a double murder at a Newport Beach coin shop ended in a mistrial Wednesday after an Orange County Superior Court jury said it would never be able to reach a verdict.

Jurors tried for nearly eight days to decide whether Thomas R. Merrill, 30, was the man who shot to death a coin shop owner’s wife and friend in March, 1989. The jurors split 7 to 5 in favor of convicting him on two counts of murder.

Several jurors said they did not believe they had enough evidence to convict him and that the evidence they did hear during more than a month of testimony was often confusing.

“The prosecution had one heck of a case on their hands,” said jury foreman Michael Kobrin of Irvine. “It was a difficult case. It was a circumstantial case. In fact, some jurors felt this case was the definition of reasonable doubt.”

Juror John Parsons, a 45-year-old water district manager from Aliso Viejo, said it became clear early on in the deliberations that the jury would remain split on all the counts.

“As a group, we got along very well, but how we viewed things became polarized very quickly,” Parsons said, adding that he voted for a guilty verdict.

Merrill and fellow Marine Eric J. Wick were convicted together in July, 1991, of shooting shop owner William D. King, then 39, four times--twice in the head--and killing his wife, Renee King, 38, and a close friend, Clyde Oatts, 45, during a robbery attempt. Merrill was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole.

But the trial judge overturned Merrill’s conviction and ordered another trial after new defense lawyers argued that the prosecution had withheld information and that the original defense lawyer had made serious mistakes in the case. The district attorney’s office agreed that evidence that pointed to Merrill’s innocence had been withheld from the defense.

Defense attorney John Barnett said Wednesday that jurors in the retrial were also split on four other charges--conspiracy to commit robbery, attempted murder, burglary and robbery.

Barnett called the mistrial a “big disappointment” and said he had hoped Merrill would be acquitted after spending more than five years in custody.

Merrill remains in custody pending a hearing Tuesday to determine if the district attorney’s office will seek another trial, Barnett said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Rick King said he will study the jurors’ reactions to the evidence before deciding whether to prosecute again.

“It was a hard-working jury and they couldn’t reach a verdict,” King said. “That is something we have to consider.”

During the trial, Wick, who is serving a sentence of 37 years to life in prison, testified for the first time that he accompanied Merrill to the store near John Wayne Airport that sold precious metals and coins. Wick, the son of an FBI agent, testified that it was Merrill who fired the shots.

But the victim who survived the shooting, store owner William King, took the stand and contradicted Wick, saying Wick was in his shop alone the day of the shooting. He said he did not know where the shots had come from.

Prosecutor King told the jury that as William King was rushed to the hospital, the shop owner told paramedics that two men were involved. He also said, “Tom shot me,” the prosecutor said.

Barnett countered with testimony from a neurologist who said William King’s testimony was unreliable because of the injury to his brain.

“There’s a great controversy over so many facets of the case,” Barnett said. “It’s understandable that people would differ.”

Merrill’s mother, Sara Merrill, reacted with frustration outside the courtroom, saying she believes the justice system should be renamed the “injustice system.”

“How an innocent young man can get pulled in like this,” she said. “It’s like the system is an octopus and he’s in its tentacles.”

Times staff writer Anna Cekola contributed to this report.