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Bell verdict: Judge may order jury to keep deliberating

By Corina Knoll
, Ruben Vives and Richard Winton
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After the jury in the Bell corruption case returned only a partial verdict, Los Angeles County Superior Judge Kathleen Kennedy may decide to ask them to continue deliberations.

Five former Bell City Council members were found guilty Wednesday of stealing public money by paying themselves extraordinary salaries in one of Los Angeles County’s poorest cities.

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But the verdicts in the four-week trial were decidedly mixed, as the defendants -- Victor Bello, George Cole, Oscar Hernandez, Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal -- were also found not guilty of some of the charges they faced. The sixth defendant, Luis Artiga, was found not guilty on all counts. The jury did not reach a verdict in about half of the counts faced by five of the defendants.

FULL COVERAGE: Bell corruption trial

The foreman told Kennedy that the jury was 9-3 on the remaining counts, but did not indicate whether they were leaning toward guilty or not guilty. Several jurors said they did not believe there was anything else that could be done to help them reach a verdict. But four jurors said they could use additional information about state laws.

‘As much as I hate to do this, I think the court needs to inquire further,’ Kennedy said. ‘I know you thought this was going to be the end and I was going to be releasing you.’

CHEAT SHEET: Bell corruption verdicts

Kennedy ordered the jury to take a lunch break. They will return at 2 p.m. to further discuss the next course of action.

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Kennedy can send them back to deliberate further. Or she can determine that the jury is deadlocked on those counts. It would be up to the district attorney to decide whether to retry the council members on those charges.

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Bell verdict: Judge may order jury to keep deliberating

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-- Corina Knoll, Ruben Vives and Richard Winton

L.A. Now
Corina Knoll

Corina Knoll is a former reporter for the Metro section of the Los Angeles Times. She was on the team that investigated corruption in Bell — which led to the paper’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize for public service — and went on to cover the trials of the city’s former officials. She later contributed to the paper’s coverage of the San Bernardino terror attack that won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. As a regional reporter, she wrote features about the San Gabriel Valley and the Westside. During her courts beat, she covered high-profile criminal cases and civil disputes, including the Jackson family vs AEG and Bryan Stow vs LA Dodgers. She and two colleagues investigated sheriff’s deputies whose histories of misconduct landed them on the department’s top-secret Brady list. She left The Times in January 2019. Raised in the Midwest, she is a graduate of Macalester College.

Ruben Vives

Ruben Vives is a general assignment reporter for the Los Angeles Times. A native of Guatemala, he got his start in journalism by writing for The Times’ Homicide Report in 2007. He helped uncover the financial corruption in the city of Bell that led to criminal charges against eight city officials. The 2010 investigative series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service and other prestigious awards.

Richard Winton

Richard Winton is an investigative crime writer for the Los Angeles Times and part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2011. Known as @lacrimes on Twitter, during almost 30 years at The Times he also has been part of the breaking news staff that won Pulitzers in 1998, 2004 and 2016.

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