CROWN POINT, Ind. -- A judge declared a mistrial after jurors said they were unable to reach a verdict in a triple murder case.\nSajjad Q. Rasheed, 23, of Gary, remained in custody Saturday awaiting the scheduling of a new trial on three counts of murder in perpetration of a robbery and two counts of attempted murder.\nLake Superior Court Judge Diane Ross Boswell declared a mistrial Friday after jurors indicated they were deadlocked after six hours of deliberations.\nRasheed was charged in the April 5, 2005, shooting deaths of Hobart residents Andrew Espinoza, 19, Brittney Hott, 19, and Chesterton resident Lindsay Davidson, 20.\nTwo others -- David Williams, 24, and Daryl Mosley, 23 -- were shot in their heads, but survived.\nBefore the murders, Rasheed was under federal investigation for alleged drug dealing, and prosecutors pointed out the two men who survived the shooting sold drugs for a living.\nProsecutors said the three killed that night were "collateral damage" from Rasheed teaching a rival drug dealer a lesson.\n"This case is about the economics of drug activity," said Deputy Prosecutor David Urbanski in closing statements.\nBut attorney Darnail Lyles said prosecutors were "desperate to convict" Rasheed, and evidence against his client was flimsy.\nLyles pointed out conflicting testimony. One witness recalled seeing two men leave the home, and others described seeing three people fleeing. Lyles also portrayed two jailhouse informants' testimony as lies.\nProsecutors' case against Rasheed hinged on a call the suspect made from his cell phone at 1:41 a.m. the night of the killings.\nUrbanski said Rasheed called a man named Samuel Cameron, whom he sold drugs to in exchange for use of Samuel's car the night of the murders.\n"He was making that call to get in touch with Sam Cameron to make sure he didn't link him to that car," Urbanski said.
sh: Jurors deadlock for 2nd time in child death trial
CROWN POINT, Ind. -- Jurors were unable to reach a verdict in the second trial of a Hammond man accused of neglect in the death of his girlfriend's 21-month-old son.\nA judge will set a date April 19 for the third neglect trial for Ronald Simes Jr.\nA Lake County jury told a judge at 11 p.m. Friday that they were hopelessly deadlocked. The first jury to hear the case in September also deadlocked.\nSimes is accused in the death of Michael Saucedo. The child died of blunt force trauma to the head on March 17, 2005, the same day Simes, 32, of Hammond and the baby's mother, Ann Marie Saucedo, 31, brought his lifeless, bruised body to St. Margaret Mercy North in Hammond.\nIn a statement to police, Simes said the boy had fallen in the bathtub a couple days before his death and fell backward off the kitchen table on the day he died.\nDr. John Cavanaugh, a forensic pathologist for the Lake County coroner's office, said the child had a large hemorrhage on the brain and a blood clot.\nAnn Saucedo, who also was charged with neglect, agreed to testify against Simes as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. She admitted she failed to get medical treatment for her son's burned foot.\nProsecutors said Saucedo got upset with the boy because he would not stay off a wet kitchen floor and held his feet over the stove burners to scare him.\nThey said Simes became frustrated with the child when he was trying to apply ointment to the burn and that he hit the child in the head and knocked him off the table.
