No Third Trial for Gangsters Accused of Shooting Teacher
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Prosecutors reluctantly announced Monday that they will not seek a third attempted-murder trial of two gang members accused of the near-fatal shooting of Los Angeles elementary school teacher Alfredo Perez.
Two juries had deadlocked in favor of acquittal of Frazier Francis and Antonio Moses, both 19. In both cases the key witness--who had originally told police he saw one of the suspects fire a gun--softened his testimony. Both trials were laced with implications of gang intimidation of the witness, James McClenand.
Judge John H. Leahy dismissed the charges against Francis and Moses, ruling that the two could never again be tried for the shooting, no matter what new evidence might surface.
Perez was wounded in the brain last February when he was struck by a stray bullet from an alleged gang dispute.
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