The first test of Hawai'i's new "extended sentencing" law ended in confusion when a Circuit Court jury could not reach a unanimous decision on whether murderer John Lorenzo Jr. should serve life in prison without parole.

Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto declared a mistrial in the penalty phase of Lorenzo's trial and set March 11 as the day when the judge will determine Lorenzo's sentence. He is already serving a 30-year sentence for previous drug convictions.

Defense lawyer Walter Rodby said the jury's inability to reach a verdict should end state efforts to sentence Lorenzo to life without parole.

The normal sentence for Lorenzo's second-degree murder conviction is life with the possibility of parole. But city prosecutors said that because Lorenzo is a persistent multiple criminal offender he is a danger to society and should never be released from prison.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott Bell said his office still may seek to empanel a new jury to consider the matter of an extended prison sentence for Lorenzo.

"Everything is in a state of flux right now," said Bell, noting that the courts and attorneys are "breaking new ground" after enactment of the new sentencing law Oct. 31.

Jury foreman Peter Medeiros said after the hearing that the panel voted 8-4 against an extended sentence for Lorenzo and added that he felt juries should not be asked to make such decisions.

"We're lay people," said Medeiros, a slack-key guitar instructor at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa campus.

"It would be best if it's out of the hands of lay people and left up to professionals like the (Hawai'i) Paroling Authority," said Medeiros.

That's contrary to recent rulings by the U.S. and Hawai'i Supreme Courts, which held that excluding juries from extended sentencing decisions violated a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury.

After the Hawai'i Supreme Court's decision was released in October, lawmakers quickly passed a new measure during the special legislative session convened primarily to consider legal issues surrounding the Hawaii Superferry.

Gov. Linda Lingle signed the measure into law Oct. 31, the same day the jury in the Lorenzo murder trial began deliberating his guilt or innocence.

After six days, the panel found Lorenzo guilty of second-degree murder but acquitted him of first-degree murder and armed robbery charges.

The prosecution then announced it would seek an extended sentence of Lorenzo under the new law and Judge Sakamoto ordered the jury to return this month for the sentencing hearing. Jurors were instructed not to discuss the case with anyone and to avoid news accounts of the legal proceedings.

Medeiros said yesterday the monthlong jury trial, followed by the monthlong break from jury duty, followed by the sentencing hearing this month, was hard on the jurors.

"It took awhile to detox from the trial. We had to get our lives back together. All of this has pretty much ruined my semester (at the university)," he said.

Defense attorney Rodby said after yesterday's hearing that "it would be a huge waste of resources and time" if the prosecutor's office tries again to obtain an extended sentence of Lorenzo.

And even if prosecutors decide against that course of action, Rodby said, he believes the government would seek another form of "enhanced sentence," such as asking the judge to impose consecutive terms of imprisonment for separate criminal offenses committed by Lorenzo.

In addition to second-degree homicide, Lorenzo, 33, was also convicted of kidnapping and weapons charges.

In February, while awaiting sentencing for an earlier drug conviction, Lorenzo, 33, armed himself with a handgun and silencer and attempted to rob the Osake Sushi Bar and Lounge on Kapi'olani Boulevard.

State Deputy Sheriff Daniel Browne-Sanchez, working off-duty at the lounge as a bartender's assistant, was shot to death when he tried to grab Lorenzo.

After Lorenzo was arrested, he was brought before Sakamoto to be sentenced in the pending drug case and the judge handed down an extended term of 30 years in prison.

That sentence is now under appeal at the state Intermediate Court of Appeals.

The attorney general's office has acknowledged that the drug case sentence must be vacated but argues in the appeal that Lorenzo can still receive a new extended sentence under "retroactivity" provisions contained in the newly enacted law.

Under those provisions, a new jury would have to be empaneled to hear evidence from the drug case and to weigh arguments for and against extra prison time for Lorenzo.

That's the same procedure the state would have to follow if it decides to once again seek an extended sentence in the murder case, Bell, the deputy prosecutor, said yesterday.

Even if a new jury were to find that an extended sentence is warranted, the law does not require the presiding judge to follow the findings of the jury, Bell said.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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