Gandara juror speaks only with ABC-7 about sentence

What happened behind closed doors when the Jesus “Jesse” Gandara jury deliberated?

The woman at the front of the jury spoke to ABC-7 in an exclusive interview Friday.

“I just took all the emotion out of it,” said Gandara trial fore person Roxanne Castricone. “For me, it was clearly the law and that’s what I’m there for.”

Roxanne Castricone, who served as the jury fore person on the David Renteria death penalty trial seven years ago, also found herself serving as jury fore person on the Gandara trial. Gandara was given 10 years probation and a $10,000. He faced two two 20 years in prison.

“If you notice, we went in at 1:51 p.m. to deliberate,” Castricone pointed out. “We didn’t get out of there until before 6 p.m. We argued and argued and argued and these four jurors would not budge.”

Castricone said eight of the jurors, including herself, wanted prison time of three to five years for Gandara. However, she said four other jurors made it clear they weren’t going to send the 34-year-old father of five to prison.

“We didn’t even sit down and four people already, when the door closed, said, ‘We are not budging from probation.’ They drew the line in the sand right there. I just threw up my hands and said, ‘OK, then what are we doing here? You just convicted him of bribery, of a felony, and you’re not going to budge for prison time?'”

Castricone said those four jurors appeared to be sympathetic to Gandara family members who pleaded for leniency, including his 14-year-old daughter Rebecca, who cried on the stand.

“So I sent a note to the judge and I said, ‘We’re at an impasse.’ And he sent me a note back saying, ‘Listen, if you’re at an impasse, I’m declaring a mistrial.’ And I told the jury, ‘I’ll be damned if I’m going to leave here with a mistrial.'”

In the end, against her will and seven other jurors, Castricone said the jury decided 10 years probation and a $10,000 fine would be best, if others couldn’t be convinced he deserved prison time.

“I’m sorry this turned out this way,” she said. “If I could of changed it i would. All eight of us stood our ground but we didn’t want a mistrial.”

ABC-7 asked Castricone if she felt giving Gandara probation sent the wrong message?

She replied: “I do and I worry about that. Walking back into the courtroom to deliver that sentence was a bitter pill for me to swallow.”