Hung Jury Declared in Shane Murder Case

Judge Katherine Mader declared a hung jury Tuesday afternoon in the trial of Sina Khankhanian, the 28-year-old man accused of murder in the April 2010 vehicular death of Malibu eighth-grader .

The eight men and four women of the jury were unable to reach unanimous agreement on whether Khankhanian committed second-degree murder when his car struck and killed Emily on April 3, 2010 while she stood on the shoulder of Pacific Coast Highway near the Heathercliff Road intersection. 

Seven of the jury members favored a guilty verdict. Had the jury found Khankhanian not guilty of murder, the members could have considered whether he committed involuntary manslaughter.

A hung jury means a mistrial. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office could pursue another trial. Emily's parents, Michel and Ellen, said they favor doing this.

"I'm upset," said Michel Shane outside the Airport Courthouse, where he, his wife, mother and supporters had been going every weekday since the trial started Jan. 17. "I really wanted it to be over. We suffered for two years, living this every day. And we wanted it to be over. And it's not over. But I think it's better than him getting involuntary manslaughter and going away for a couple more months."

Had Khankhanian been convicted of murder, he would have faced a mandatory prison sentence of 15 years to life. A manslaughter conviction would have meant a maximum sentence of four years in custody. Since he has already served nearly two years, he would be let go in 2014 at the latest, and likely earlier than that.

"It was 100 percent a murder," Michel Shane said. "If he hadn't killed Emily, he would have killed somebody else or maybe himself and somebody else. He had total disregard for the law, total disregard for human safety. You couldn't call it anything else."

Ellen Shane said it was difficult for her to understand how five people could think this was not a murder when it was "crystal-clear" to her that it was. She and Michel attended every day of the trial. At least 10 supporters, and as many as 30, were in the courtroom each day with them.

"The support from the community has been unbelievable," Ellen Shane said. "I told Michel the other day that I can't imagine if I was here alone with him and his mom versus having all this positive energy of caring from the community."

Khankhanian's family declined to speak with Malibu Patch on Tuesday, although his father said he might want to speak later. The defendant's attorney, Bradley Brunon, said he had hoped the jury would reach a resolution, but the result was not unexpected.

"If you look at the objective facts of this case, it's hard to call it a murder," Brunon said. "If you take into account his mental illness, if you take into account proof of the mental components of murder, this [result] doesn't surprise me."

He added, "This case was driven by emotion, and not always positive emotion. You can understand an emotion of love and caring, but I don't think those were the predominate emotions in this case."

Brunon said this case should not go to a second trial and should be settled outside the courtroom.

"I think there is a place where reasonable people can agree to a fair resolution on this case," Brunon said. "We just didn't get there."

At least one juror left the courtroom in tears. Most jurors declined to speak with the media. One juror, a male engineer who favored a guilty verdict, agreed to speak on the condition Malibu Patch did not use his name. He said four votes were taken, with nine people favoring guilty when the jury started deliberating on Thursday. The next vote had 10 favoring guilty. Then on Monday, it went down to eight and finally seven.

The man said the people who leaned toward not guilty were persuaded by the defense's argument that Khankhanian's autism prevented him from appreciating the danger of his 17-mile drive from Topanga Canyon Boulevard to the crime scene, which witnesses called "reckless." Also, they did not believe he acted with "conscious disregard" for life, which is an element of murder.

The engineer said he believed Khankhanian was aiming for Emily when he drove his car off the highway and that he knew what he was doing.

"[Khankhanian] was very calculated," the man said. Referring to Khankhanian's suicide note he left for his parents and fiancée, the man said, "He did everything [to tell them what he wanted to do], he told them he would see them in heaven."

The man was serving on a jury for the fourth time, but this was his first murder case. He described a heated deliberation room.

"Sometimes, it got very intense … voices were raised," the man said. "One time, like a movie actor, I had to pound on the table, and said 'let her speak.'"

Khankhanian will return to court Feb. 22. That hearing will trigger a timeline that requires a new trial to start within 60 days.