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# Mistrial declared in murder case against local man
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/mistrial-declared-in-murder-case-against-local-man/
- Published: 2004-02-04T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:43:46.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Crime, Pico, #archive-import

*Barba will be re-tried in March*

*By MICHAEL TITTINGER Daily Press Staff Writer*

A deadlocked jury has further clouded the murder trial of a Santa Monica man who is charged with the vicious killing of a cab driver in Venice nearly three years ago, as a judge declared a mistrial earlier this week.

Following nearly two days of deliberations, jurors on Monday reported to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry that they had reached an impasse this week, with 10 members finding Antonio Barba guilty against two siding for the defense. A pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for March 4 to discuss the possibility of another trial and the admittance of any further evidence.

Barba, who is from the 1800 block of 16th Street in the Pico neighborhood of Santa Monica, remains in custody without bail pending another trial.

423,“I thought we had enough to convict,” said Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Kendra Carmen, who prosecuted the week-long case. Carmen said on Tuesday that, all in all, she was impressed with the jury and their deliberations, as well as encouraged by the majority finding for the prosecution.

“Now we all have to get our ducks back in a row,” she said, “and do it all over again.”

While the jury deliberated for just two days, Carmen said it was not unusual given the pace of the trial, which encompassed three days of arguments and testimony at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Jurors also had the past weekend to consider the case on an individual basis.

The decision to wrest control of the trial was made by Judge Perry following jurors’ declaration Monday that they were hopelessly deadlocked. A judge will intermittently ask a jury for progress reports, then decide whether or not to declare a mistrial, as Judge Perry did Monday, or send the jury back in to deliberate more, according to LA Superior Court spokesperson Pat Kelly.

7C8,“It depends on the judge, but their questioning (of a jury) is usually pretty probing,” Kelly explained. “They’ll often ask any of the other jurors whether they disagree with the foreman, that they can or cannot be moved in their decision.

“If no one offers a comment, the judge has to make a decision to send it back or not.”

Judge Perry was unconvinced jurors would waver in their opinions, opting to move the case forward via a second trial rather than proceed with seemingly exhausted deliberations.

Barba has a right to a speedy trial, which must commence within 60 days of Monday’s mistrial ruling, Carmen said. The scheduling contrasts the development and staging of the first trial, which did not get underway until almost two and a half years after the July 8, 2001 murder of former cab driver Keum Kim.

“It’s not unusual for a murder case involving scientific evidence to take two or three years to go to trial,” Carmen said. “Both sides need to get a handle on things leading up to it.”

> “It’s not unusual for a murder case involving scientific evidence to take two or three years to go to trial. Both sides need to get a handle on things leading up to it.” — — KENDRA CARMEN Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney

The scientific evidence in the trial included a series of DNA tests performed on Kim’s cab, a sweatshirt found to have Kim’s blood on it and clothing taken from Barba’s house during an Aug. 2, 2001 search of the Barba home.

Barba, 24, stands accused of allegedly robbing and stabbing Kim more than 30 times with a butcher knife after the driver drove him to the 800 block of Brooks Avenue, just off Lincoln Boulevard.

Barba has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and one count of armed robbery.

The prosecution’s case is centered on the belief that Barba, then 21 years old, called a cab for the specific purpose of killing and robbing the driver, then ambushing the unwitting victim from the back of the cab. The public defender counters that all the evidence in the case is circumstantial.

The prosecution, however, remains undaunted in the wake of the hung jury.

“Certainly, with these numbers, we’ll retry it,” said a confident Carmen on Tuesday.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 4, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/020404.pdf?ref=smdp.com)