By Deb Murphy
With a poor jury pool turn-out, a second mistrial on the assault charges against Raymond Bencoma was called Thursday afternoon. The District Attorney’s office will move for a change of venue on July 6.
After three and a half days of jury selection, the court ran out of jurors. Those seated were dismissed at 2 p.m. The prosecution and defense had a potential jury pool of roughly 200 in the first trial; this go-around, from a potential pool of 240 jurors, fewer than 100 showed up.
The first trial resulted in a conviction on charges of possession of firearms and ammunition by a felon but the jury couldn’t agree on the four assault with a firearm on law enforcement officer charges.
The charges stemmed from an incident in late August of last year. Four officers approached Bencoma’s home early in the morning. The defense argued that under the circumstances, Bencoma did not know he was pointing a gun at the officers. An officer opened fire, shooting the defendant.
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Kyle….I suggest you watch the A & E television show called “The First 48 “,one of the very few real crime shows following murder investigations,and see if marijuana users and dealers are all “mellow all the time not being a menace to anyone “….
When Ray gets out he should get medicated on marijuana, then he would be chill and mellow all the time not being a menace to nobody!
Buzz……yep….the “maybe” stated,only if he wins his case….know of one family here in LP with something like 14 lawsuits against the County right now,some of them kinda the same as with this one,only not involving shots fired ( “excessive force” by LE )..kinda like their “hobby”….doing stupid things,getting arrested for them,then sueing the County for “mistreatment” by Law Enforcement….
….and here comes the lawsuits against LE and the County,and maybe $$$ out of the pockets of it’s good citizens….
@low inyo -fyi all govt agencies $$$ comes out of the pockets of its good citizens….there is no maybe…
Next time, and there will be a next time, mabe the deputies will take better aim.
Like I said before , if the Deputy had spent more time at the range , the defendant would be where he should be .
The fact of the matter is INYO COUNTY DOES NOT HAVE A CASE AGAINST THIS MAN FOR ASSAULTING POLICE OFFICERS. NO FINGER PRINTS ON GUN, THERE WAS NO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND THE COPS DID NOT FOLLOW PROTOCAL!! INFACT, LAWENFORCEMENTS ACTIONS PUT THEMSELVES AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE IMMIDIATE SURROUNDING AREA IN DANGER INCLUDING BENCOMA WHO IS AND WAS THE VICTIM OF EXCESSIVE FORCE. END OF STORY!!!!!!
mouthPIECE, HORSE-HOCKEY!
Tinner….If “mouthpiece” had his or her way,Bencoma would be living the good life on some tropical island beach lounging and sipping on a strawberry margarita right now.. on the residents of Inyo Counties dime…in his or her’s eyes,Bencoma is a “good guy” that never has done any wrong,a good citizen,never in trouble, a hard working family man being picked-on,for some unknown reason by Law Enforcement for years…every charge ever against him ever,false and trumped-up ,either trying to lock him up for life,or in some cases,as with this incident,trying to set-up and kill (murder) him…an innocent man just trying to live a good,happy and productive life……
For gosh sakes,get this over with…..don’t retry again on the charges there….just sentence on the possession of a firearm and ammo by a felon,let the Judge give a light sentence,and get him the hell back on the streets doing what he does best….kudos to our Justice system….again….
Start stinging the citizens that fail over and over to show up for Jury duty. Give them a weekend of picking up trash at the dump and you will start getting all sorts of potential jurors. BobK
This has been the most accurate article on the Bencoma case so far. Thank you Sierra Wave.
Stop spending tax payer money, take the convictions from the 1st trial and call it good.