This was a case that grabbed national headlines: A 16-year-old girl was gang raped at Richmond High School after a school dance in 2009.
Now, two of the men accused in this horrific crime are set to go to trial. This won’t be like most trials.
Hundreds of potential jurors were summoned for months before two juries were seated. When 22-year-old Jose Montano and 20-year-old Marcelles Peter go on trial two separate juries will hear different opening statements.
Dual juries are rarely paneled in California but are considered necessary when there are inadmissible statements as to one defendant but not the other. Each jury will hear opening statements and closing arguments separately, will deliberate separately, but will hear the bulk of the witness testimony together. The juries are not allowed to mingle inside or out of the courtroom, and will be identified by different color-coded badges.
Legal Analyst Dean Johnson says both juries will sit together in the court and hear much of the same testimony. Johnson said, “To use two juries for one trial is extremely unusual. I only know a handful of times it has been done."
MORE: One Year Later, Horrific Details of Crime Begin to Come into Focus
The last dual jury trial case in Contra Costa County was in 2010 for the leader and two street soldiers in a violent West County street gang convicted in connection with a 2007 and 2008 killing spree in San Pablo.
Prosecutors say the girl was drunk and going in and out of consciousness when she was beaten, raped and robbed on a courtyard after a school dance at Richmond High School in 2009. At least 20 people watches the assault. The young woman is expected to testify. There are four other defendants in the case. Two have reached plea deals and are serving prison sentences. Two other defendants are awaiting trial. The trial of Montano and Peter is expected to last six weeks at the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse in Martinez.
