By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com
A jury has convicted a man of assault on a peace officer with great bodily injury in the shooting of a Sacramento sheriff's deputy last year, but failed to reach a verdict on a charge of attempted murder.
Today's announcement by Jordan Elijah Latour's jury came a week after a separate panel convicted co-defendant Marcus Antone Zapata of trying to kill the deputy.
Authorities identified Latour as the gunman in the shooting. Zapata was not armed.
A third jury couldn't reach an attempted murder verdict on a third defendant in the case, Loureece Clark.
Deputy District Attorney William Satchell said in court his office intends to retry Latour for attempted murder in the Aug. 8, 2009, shooting of Deputy Duke Lewis.
Lewis suffered serious injuries to his shoulder and clavicle and missed 14 months of work due to the shooting. Lewis was shot in a confrontation behind a Foothill Farms area strip mall after a bank robbery in Rocklin in which the suspects eluded police in a freeway chase that reached speeds of 115 mph.
Besides the assault on the officer, Latour's jury convicted the 21-year-old defendant of robbery, felony evasion and resisting arrest. It acquitted him on single counts of assault and attempted robbery and it failed to reach verdicts on two other robbery counts and another charge of resisting arrest.
The panel voted 8-4 to convict Latour of attempted murder, and after five court days of deliberation, the forewoman told Sacramento Superior Court Judge David De Alba that further discussion wouldn't help the jury reach the unanimous decision required for a verdict.
One of the jurors who voted to acquit Latour of attempted murder said she didn't feel there was enough evidence to prove that he intended to kill the officer.
"It was trying to see if he really, really was trying to kill him, or just get away," juror Annette Cheney said in an interview.
Judge De Alba scheduled Latour's sentencing for Jan. 11.
Regardless of what happens if he is retried, Latour, who has a previous serious felony on his record, is facing a minimum term of about 40 years in state prison.
Zapata, 18, who was convicted of all nine counts filed against him, is slated for a Jan. 21 sentencing.
Clark, 36, was convicted last week of resisting arrest, but his jury failed to reach verdicts on his remaining eight counts, including the attempted murder allegation. Clark is scheduled for a hearing Friday on his retrial.
Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.
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