Want a Mistrial? Try Slitting Your Own Throat
Tuesday, Sep 8, 2009 | Updated 3:45 PM PST
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A 31-year-old defendant apparently didn't like the way his attempted murder trial was going and decided to slit his throat as it was nearing an end, authorities said.
Inglewood courthouse Judge John Meigs was in the process of ruling on whether to allow jurors in Darnell Stewart's trial to consider a lesser charge of assault with a deadly weapon when the defendant “slashed his throat with some type of weapon” while sitting at the defense table, said Allan Parachini of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Stewart was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for treatment of what Parachini described as superficial wounds.
The judge declared a mistrial since the jurors witnessed what happened, he said.
The sheriff's department will be investigating how Stewart got the weapon -- which authorities did not identify -- into the courthouse, the spokesman said.
Posted Tuesday, Sep 8, 2009 - 3:35 PM PST
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