By Ed Fletcher
efletcher@sacbee.com
Placer Superior Court Judge Colleen Nichols declared a mistrial Tuesday morning in the case of a sheriff's deputy accused of firing shots into the air in 2009 after a jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked and couldn't reach a unanimous verdict. NIchols then dismissed the case, meaning it cannot be refiled.
Jury Foreman Chris Randolph said final vote was: 9 not guilty; 2 guilty; and 1 undecided.
He said the jury ultimately discounted the testimony of a key prosecution witness, a woman, then 18, who claimed to have seen Placer Sheriff's Lt. John Savage firing a gun as he stood in the driveway of this then Rocklin home. (An earlier version of this story didn't accurately characterize her testimony.)
Savage had faced a misdemeanor firearms charge as a result of the Oct. 8 , 2009 incident. The case went to trial after a five-month investigation.
"Nobody, I mean nobody, in our society is above the law," prosecutor Matt Block told the jury in his closing arguments.
Numerous witnesses pinpointed Savage's Lakebreeze Drive home when asked where the shots came from, Block said. Savage, who was on-call at the time, was not cooperative with investigating officers, purposely hid evidence and had a strange response to the shots being fired, Block said.
"He was in no hurry to get outside and investigate because he knew he was the shooter," Block said.
Defense attorney Tim Balcom suggested several possible scenarios for a jury not looking to convict a veteran member of the law enforcement community.
He suggested the primary witnesses were biased against their neighbor, that the Rocklin police department settled on a theory without questioning people in nearby neighborhoods and that the district attorney's office was out to prove it's just as hard on cops.
The lack of physical evidence was also damming, he said.
What happened to the gun?" Balcom asked.
According to Block, Savage picked up the spent shells and put the gun in his car.
Savage allowed investigating officers to search his home, but did not allow them to search his unmarked patrol car. He also did not consent to a gunshot residue test.
Balcom said Savage questioned the validity of the residue test and said his client, who did allow of search of his home, had grown tired of the meandering investigation.
Call The Bee's Ed Fletcher, (916) 321-1269.
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