Jury Struggles in Trial of Woman Charged with Aspiring Model's Killing

By Elizabeth Marcellino
City News Service

Jurors in the trial of a businesswoman accused of killing a 21-year-old aspiring model in Santa Monica told a judge Monday they were struggling to reach a verdict, opening the possibility of attorneys making additional arguments to the panel on the difference between first- and second-degree murder.

The suggestion elicited an objection from a defense attorney, who said such a move would be coercive.

Kelly Soo Park, 47, is charged with murder in the March 15, 2008, killing of Juliana Redding, who once appeared in Maxim magazine.
 
Prosecutors contend the killing was carried out in response to a failed business deal between Redding's father and a doctor for whom Park worked and Redding had dated.

After indicating they had reached a verdict, jurors were brought into a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy then confirmed with the jury foreman that the panel was in agreement on the initial charge -- first-degree murder -- but was unable to reach a verdict on the lesser offense of second-degree murder. The announcement seemed to indicate the six-man, six-woman panel was inclined to acquit Park of first-degree murder, leading them to consider second-degree murder.
   
But the foreman noted on the verdict form that he believed two jurors were not following the court's instructions, prompting the judge to send the jurors back to the deliberation room to clarify what instructions were at issue. The panel returned within an hour with a note asking for clarity on the difference between first- and second-degree murder.

"In light of these questions ... it doesn't appear to me that the jury has reached a verdict,'' Kennedy said, before sending the jury home for the evening.

Kennedy said she was inclined to allow prosecutors and defense attorneys 10 minutes each to present arguments to the jury on the issue.

But defense attorney George Buehler called foul.

"I believe the way the court has handled this is inherently coercive,'' Buehler said, asking to see the verdict form.

Kennedy denied his request, releasing only the second note from jurors detailing their request for information, including an "enhanced definition'' of second-degree murder.

Family and friends of Redding and Park, both heavily represented in the courtroom, did not react to the complex turn of events.

Redding was found dead in her apartment in the 1500 block of Centinela Avenue in Santa Monica after her mother called police to say her daughter had failed to show up for a photo shoot.

Deputy District Attorney Stacy Okun-Wiese argued during trial that the "evidence is overwhelming with the DNA,'' while Buehler countered that his client stood accused of a slaying committed by someone else. 

DNA matching Park was recovered from the crime scene, including the victim's neck, tank top, cell phone, front interior door and a knob on the stove, which had been turned on apparently in an unsuccessful attempt to cause an explosion, the prosecutor told jurors in her closing argument.

"The evidence is she was there on the night of the murder,'' Okun-Wiese said, telling jurors that the defense attorney "wants you to come to an unreasonable conclusion about how the defendant's DNA got to that location.''

Park's attorney countered that the prosecution's case "rests entirely
on DNA evidence,'' and told jurors that the prosecution had not proven its case.

"There are ways that DNA could have gotten there. ... It doesn't tell you how it got there, when it got there,'' Buehler said, adding that "the transfer of DNA is an important issue to think about in this case.''

Okun-Wiese told jurors that Park or her company had received more than $1 million in an 18-month period from a company belonging to Dr. Munir Uwaydah, who had earlier been romantically linked to Redding and who had been involved in business negotiations with Redding's father, Greg.

Redding's death occurred five days after her father pulled out of a potential deal with Uwaydah, who has not been charged in the case. He left the country and is believed to be living in Lebanon.

The jury has been deliberating for more than a week.

Kennedy said the jurors were required to follow the court's instructions in reaching their verdict.

"I would never tell a juror to change his or her mind ... if based on the law,'' Kennedy said when the jurors first returned to the courtroom Monday.

She stressed that the question of reasonable doubt was an "individual determination'' but that jurors must follow instructions in addressing that question.

But Buehler said Kennedy's comments amounted to "communicating to the jury that they're not doing it right.''

Outside the courtroom, after the judge denied his request to review the verdict form, the defense attorney reiterated his concerns.

"The jury is supposed to be in control of this process ... not the judge, who's over there cracking the whip,'' he said.