California IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Mistrial Declared in Slaying of Student

A Superior Court judge declared a mistrial in the case against one of two men charged in the beating death of a college student. After deliberating for nine days, jurors deadlocked 9 to 3 in favor of convicting Totoa Pohahau of second-degree murder. The jury considered seven possible convictions ranging from first-degree murder to assault charges. Pohahau, 20, was on trial for his part in the death of Scott Quackenbush, whose calls to an emergency operator went unheeded. Police did not respond for 90 minutes, and when they arrived they did not find anything out of place. The body of Quackenbush, a Fresno State University student, was found several days later behind a gas station after a search by the victim’s father.