By Brinda Kalita
INDIO, CA – The jury in the Larin-Garcia quadruple homicide trial—after about a week of deliberation in a trial that has been ongoing since last November—told the judge here in Riverside County Superior Court Tuesday that it was deadlocked.
Judge Anthony Villalobos sent them back to deliberate further, despite the jury’s indecision
Deputy District Attorney Samantha Paixao suggested that she and defense attorney John Dolan could provide another round of closing arguments in order to help the jury to come to a verdict.
On the other hand, Attorney Dolan argued that the jury already agreed that nothing new would change their votes. 
Dolan added that instead of forcing the jury to hear more arguments from the prosecution and defense, the court should first ask what the jury needs in order to come to a verdict. Then, the court should ask how they can provide these resources to the jury in the best way possible.
Judge Villalobos ended up combining the ideas of both DDA Paixao and Attorney Dolan.
Later in the day, Judge Villalobos asked the jury if they needed any clarification of old instructions, new instructions, or any new closing arguments.
However, the jury asked if it was possible for to get some more evidence about the witness John Olvera—who the defense has claimed is the real murderer of four people, not Larin-Garcia—and the Perkins Operation, the use of an undercover officer to elicit information.
But Judge Villalobos stated that the jury would only be allowed to use the testimonies that were already in the record on both Olvera and the Perkins Operation, and that the court cannot provide new information on either of those two things.
The jury then declared that nothing else would help them change their verdict and that they were still deadlocked.
Judge Villalobos decided to give the jury some more time to make a decision before declaring this trial as a mistrial.
Meanwhile, Larin-Garcia will be returning to court in June 2022 for a pre-trial hearing to address his DUI related charges.
