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Oct 6, 2008 12:16 pm US/Eastern
New Trial Set For "Joe Cool" Murder Case
Second Trial Set For January 19
Will face 12 charges first jury couldn't agree on
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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The Joe Cool, a Miami-based charter boat, was found adrift off the coast of Cuba in 2007.
Prosecutors have informed a federal judge in Miami they will try 20-year-old Guillermo Zarabozo on murder, kidnapping, robbery, and other charges a second time.
A mistrial was declared last week when jurors could not agree Zarabozo's guilt or innocence to 12 charges.
Last Friday, attorneys for defendant Guillermo Zarabozo filed a motion with U.S. District Judge Paul Huck which urged him to overturn the verdict. The jury found Zarabozo guilty of 4 lesser counts of causing death through the use of a firearm, but acquitted him of the more serious charges of kidnapping, hijacking, robbery and first degree murder.
In their filing, the attorneys claim the verdict was inconsistent since the jury found Zarabozo guilty of causing the death of the captain and crew of the charter boat Joe Cool with a firearm, but did not find him guilty of murder. They feel the judge should have advised the jury that he could not be found guilty on the gun charges unless they also convicted him of taking part in the kidnapping and murders.
U.S. District Judge Paul Huck said the trial will be for the 12 charges jurors couldn't agree on, but hasn't ruled on the issue of the 4 charges Zarabozo was convicted on.
Prosecutors are expected to enter arguments for or against a new trial on the 4 guilty charges on Friday.
Another issue expected to be brought before the judge concerns three members of the jury who have said publicly that they felt pressure to convict. Juror Raul Garcia told
CBS4's Peter D'Oench that he and two women on the jury believed the story that Zarabozo gave on the stand in which he said he did not know of the plan to hijack the Joe Cool and take it to Cuba, and that he did not take part in the murders of four people, including the captain of the boat. Zarabozo testified that he brought a handgun in his luggage but blamed the killings on the man he called the mastermind of the killings, Kirby Archer.
"He was guilty because he brought a gun onboard, but that's the only thing he did," said Garcia. "He didn't do any of the killing. I tried to work it out with the evidence, and I did not find anything to show me that he did the killing. I believed the only mistake he made is that he lied to the FBI."
Garcia said during the five days of deliberations some of their discussions became heated, with some jurors pounding their fists on a table and shouting.
"I've served on other juries before, and this was a tough one, a really tough one," said Garcia.
Archer, 36, has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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