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       lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
       
       
       ARTICLE VIEW: 
       
       California school safety officer’s murder trial ends in mistrial
       after jury fails to reach verdict in shooting of 18-year-old
       
       By Cindy Von Quednow, Taylor Romine and Dalia Faheid, CNN
       
       Updated: 
       
       12:15 AM EDT, Thu April 18, 2024
       
       Source: CNN
       
       A mistrial has been declared more than two years after a former
       California school safety officer was charged with murder for fatally
       shooting an 18-year-old woman as she tried to flee a physical
       altercation, after the jury failed to reach a verdict, officials said
       Tuesday.
       
       Eddie Gonzalez was patrolling an area near Millikan High School in Long
       Beach on September 27, 2021, when he noticed a fight between Manuela
       Rodriguez, 18, and a 15-year-old girl, the police said. As Rodriguez
       and two others attempted to flee the scene in a nearby vehicle, the
       school safety officer allegedly fired his handgun at the sedan,
       striking Rodriguez, who was in the front passenger seat, police said.
       
       Rodriguez was taken to a hospital and died from her injuries
       approximately a week later, the Los Angeles County District
       Attorney’s office said. She left behind a 5-month-old son. Gonzalez
       was soon fired for violating the district’s use-of-force policy and
       charged with murder a month after the shooting.
       
       Seven of the jurors wanted to convict Gonzalez on the murder charge,
       while five jurors wanted to convict him on a lesser charge
       of voluntary manslaughter, the Los Angeles County District
       Attorney’s office told CNN Tuesday.
       
       “To return a verdict on voluntary manslaughter, the jury had to first
       find the defendant not guilty of the greater offense of murder,” a
       spokesperson for the office said.
       
       A jury viewed the evidence and did not convict, so it is time to move
       on from the case, Gonzalez’s attorney Michael D. Schwartz said.
       
       “It’s been 2.5 years since the incident, the civil case was
       settled,” he said. “We’re hopeful that Mr. Gascon will let
       everyone move on.”
       
       Rodriguez’s family in 2023 had reached a $13 million settlement
       agreement with the Long Beach Unified School District in their civil
       case. The Long Beach Unified School District had said the agreement was
       not an “admission of liability.”
       
       “I don’t know how to go on, how I’m here, how to move on without
       my baby girl. She meant everything to me,” her mother Manuela Sahagun
       said at the time. “All I want is justice – justice for my baby
       girl.”
       
       The district attorney’s office will review the case and determine how
       to move forward, District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.
       
       “We respect the hard work that the jury put in while attempting to
       reach a verdict in this case,” Gascón said. “While we are
       disappointed that the jury did not reach a verdict, we will carefully
       review the proceedings and consider our options moving forward. Our
       commitment to seeking justice for the victim and their family remains
       steadfast.”
       
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