



A Fresno man was fatally stabbed just hours after a jury mistakenly set him free when they signed the wrong verdict form, according to reports.

The Fresno Bee reported that Bobby Lee Pearson, 37, and co-defendant Terrel Minnieweather, 31, along with one other unnamed suspect, were accused of burglarizing a Fresno home last May, stealing a video system and gun.

The jury found Minnieweather guilty of residential burglary and grand theft just after lunch Wednesday, but found Pearson not guilty on all charges.

When Judge W. Kent Hamlin asked the jury if they were sure of their verdict, all 12 nodded yes, leaving him no choice but to set Pearson free, the Bee reported. It soon came out, thought, that the jury accidentally signed a not guilty verdict form instead of informing Hamlin that they were in fact deadlocked, 8-4, in favor of a guilty verdict.

Both Minnieweather and Pearson have multiple prior convictions, according to court records, including burglary and unlawful possession of firearms. Minnieweather could face as much as 30 years to life when he is sentenced on July 10.

“I can’t believe it,” an exasperated Hamlin said in Superior Court. “I can’t change it because double jeopardy has already attached. This has never happened to me in more than 100 jury trials that I have done.”

Defense attorney Linden Lindahl, who spoke with some jurors after they were excused, told the Bee that some on the panel weren’t convinced of Pearson’s guilt after the victim, who interrupted the burglary, and a police detective were unable to positively identify him.

Lindahl added that the timing of the trial could have added to juror confusion, calling it a “June jury,” primarily made up of college students who had delayed their service until school was out.

Around 1 a.m. the next morning, Pearson went to a house in Fresno to collect some of his things and got into an altercation with the boyfriend of a relative, police told KSFN-TV in Fresno.

Officers discovered Pearson in the street with stab wounds to the upper body and torso, said Lt. Joe Gomez, and he later died at a hospital. Police were still searching for the suspect.