A mistrial was declared Friday when a jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case of a man accused of a killing that happened more than a decade ago in the East County.
A jury voted 9-3 in favor of convicting Marlin Lattereal Royal of murder in connection with the May 7, 2007 shooting death of 29-year-old Idris Jones in the Steele Canyon area , El Cajon court officials said.
About 10:30 p.m. that day, Jones was found dead from a shotgun blast to the head on the roadside in the 2300 block of Millar Ranch Road, according to sheriff’s homicide detectives and the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The investigation into the slaying eventually went cold and remained that way until Royal was identified last year as the alleged killer. The suspect was booked into jail in San Diego in June 2016 on suspicion of murder.
At the time he was arrested in the San Diego-area case, he was serving a 40-year sentence for robbery and kidnapping.
Judge Daniel Goldstein scheduled a hearing for Oct. 11 to determine how to proceed with the case.
—City News Service
