EUREKA >> A mistrial was declared in the Fieldbrook double murder case against Lake County resident Jason Michael Arreaga on Friday after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict due to a lack of convincing evidence. A new trial date was set for December.
Juror No. 3, who acted as the jury foreperson, said the jury cast votes twice and hung at a 9-3 vote in favor of convicting Arreaga, 30, for the first degree murders of Harley Wayne Hammers and Angel Robin Tully, both 37, in Fieldbrook over a year ago. Speaking outside the courtroom in the Humboldt County Superior Courthouse, Juror No. 3 said a lack of physical evidence presented by the prosecution matched with conflicting witness testimony led to the split vote.
“It was mostly gaps in a solid narrative that led us to not guilty,” Juror No. 3 said, choosing not to disclose their vote.
After briefly questioning each of the 12 jurors, Judge Marilyn Miles found the jury to be “hopelessly deadlocked” and declared the mistrial. When the jury foreperson stated that the 9-3 vote was in favor of conviction, Arreaga had already taken off his glasses and was holding his interlocked hands over his mouth, occasionally rubbing his temple. As the jury filed out of the courtroom, Arreaga stood next to his attorney Deputy Public Defender Heidi Holmquist looking both anxious and relieved while nervously straightening the tie on his white collared shirt.
Arreaga is accused of fatally shooting Hammers and Tully on the afternoon of Sept. 3, 2014, outside of a ramshackle residence on Fieldbrook Road. One of the key witnesses for the prosecution in the case was Hammers’ estranged wife Shavonne Hammers who had been at the scene of the shooting along with Arreaga’s 17-year-old girlfriend. While stating that she had not seen the shooting as she was inside of a trailer, Shavonne Hammers had testified during the trial that Arreaga confessed to her as they were driving away from the scene that he had shot the couple.
The defense’s case was primarily focused on showing that Shavonne Hammers had the motive to kill the couple as her husband had been cheating on her with Tully, with Arreaga taking the stand last week to testify that Shavonne Hammers pulled the trigger. Shavonne Hammers was given immunity by the District Attorney’s Office in exchange for her testimony.
Juror No. 3 said that while the defense didn’t buy the defense’s story about Shavonne Hammers being the shooter, they said the lack of physical evidence and conflicting testimony shrouded the case in doubt.
“We couldn’t rule out the possibility of Shavonne doing it even though nobody thought it in their heart of hearts,” Juror No. 3 said. “We were given rules. We had to go by the evidence and we were told not to fill in the gaps basically.”
Other factors including the behavior and general demeanor of the witnesses, witness testimony contradicting what they told police as well as conflicting testimony between witnesses also caused some jurors to vote against conviction, Juror No. 3 said. While the murder weapon was found stashed in Arreaga’s car when he was pulled over by Eureka police a few hours after the shooting, Juror No. 3 said it wasn’t enough to convince some jurors of his guilt.
“The direct physical evidence didn’t concretely point to anything,” Juror No. 3 said. “In terms of people seeing the gun or seeing the shooter, it was all witness testimony, There was no video. … To tell any cohesive narrative, we had to say that some witnesses were telling the truth, some part of the time and lying at other times. No witness told 100 percent of the truth.”
Family members of the victims were in the courtroom and hugged each other outside in the hallway after the proceedings. A second cousin of one of the victims who chose to only provide her first name, Irene, asked for the public to “please keep the family in their prayers.”
“God’s will be done,” she said, before turning to join her family members.
Arreaga is set to return to court for a trial confirmation on Dec. 2 at 2 p.m. Jury selection for the second trial is set to begin Dec. 14 at 8:30 a.m.
