VENTURA : Jurors Deadlock on Man’s Competency

A Superior Court jury deadlocked Thursday on whether a Santa Barbara man accused of setting a string of fires in Ventura last October is competent to stand trial.

After deliberating for more than a day, the jury said it was unable to agree whether Ronald K. Sneed was legally competent to stand trial for the arson fires. Superior Court Judge Charles McGrath dismissed the jury, which was deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of competency.

The inconclusive verdict further complicated an already unusual case that saw the defendant share strategy with the prosecutor in an attempt to prove his own competence. Sneed had also attempted to represent himself, but was eventually assigned a public defender.

After the decision, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard E. Simon asked McGrath to declare Sneed competent, saying a precedent allowed the judge to make a ruling from the same evidence the jury heard.

A hearing on Simon’s motion is scheduled for Monday.

The jurors who believed the defendant capable of standing trial cited Sneed’s efforts to act as his own attorney as evidence that he was capable of understanding the issues involved in his case.

“He knew everything that was going on,” said a Simi Valley juror, who asked not to be identified.

One of the holdouts, Lou Isaacs of Simi Valley, said he disagreed with the other jurors’ contention that Sneed was competent because he wanted to defend himself.

“They think that just because he can fill out a few court papers, he’s competent,” Isaacs said. “But that’s not how I feel.”

Isaacs described Sneed as “cunning and very sly,” but said Sneed’s flat denial that any evidence of his guilt existed proved he was irrational.

“I kept asking ‘what am I missing?’ ” Isaacs said. “But when I heard the answers, I was even more sure Sneed is incompetent.”

After a deadlock was declared, Deputy Public Defender Neil B. Quinn said the issue of Sneed’s competence presents a complicated legal case. “It’s an unusual situation that hasn’t been resolved yet,” Quinn said.