NORWALK -- Jury selection has been postponed yet again in the sanity phase of a murder trial for a 26-year-old Lakewood woman convicted last year of the slashing death of one neighbor and the attempted murders of three others.
Virginia Krall was found guilty on Aug. 14, 2009, of one count of murder for the death of Yolanda Meraz, 37, and three counts of attempted murder for the slashings of Meraz's daughter, sister and mother.
The defendant was also convicted of multiple allegations that the attack on the survivors resulted in great bodily injury and required the personal use of a weapon.
The same jury deadlocked during the sanity phase of the trial, which was held to determine whether Krall should serve her sentence in a mental facility or a prison.
Authorities said Krall crept through an open window at her neighbors' home in the 4300 block of Quigley Avenue at about 3 a.m. on June 16, 2006.
After stabbing Meraz, Krall turned the 12-inch knife -- which she took from Meraz's kitchen -- on the dead woman's 18-year-old daughter, the victim's sister and the victim's mother, according to authorities.
Meraz was stabbed 30 times, according to a coroner's investigator.
The prosecutor argued the killing and attempted killings were calculated attacks, noting that Krall waited until the "dark of night" to sneak through an open window, that she looked in the victims' kitchen and found "the biggest knife" they had and that Krall then turned off what lights were still on to make it more difficult for the victims to get away.
The defense argued there was no doubt his client killed Meraz and attacked the other women, but his client's mental state - hampered by what he called mental illness and psychosis and the use of drugs - made it impossible to find Krall guilty of first-degree murder.
The defendant, who was 22 at the time of the slaying, entered two pleas; not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
After the jury found her guilty of murder and attempted murder they were reconvened to determine her sanity at the time of the crime and ended up hopelessly deadlocked.
A new sanity phase was scheduled to begin at the Norwalk Superior Court Monday, but it was postponed during a motion's hearing held in Dept. K Friday.
The case has been turned over to a new prosecutor and it is now scheduled to begin July 16.
Krall remains in jail in lieu of $2.7 million bail, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Inmate Information Center.
Virginia Krall was found guilty on Aug. 14, 2009, of one count of murder for the death of Yolanda Meraz, 37, and three counts of attempted murder for the slashings of Meraz's daughter, sister and mother.
The defendant was also convicted of multiple allegations that the attack on the survivors resulted in great bodily injury and required the personal use of a weapon.
The same jury deadlocked during the sanity phase of the trial, which was held to determine whether Krall should serve her sentence in a mental facility or a prison.
Authorities said Krall crept through an open window at her neighbors' home in the 4300 block of Quigley Avenue at about 3 a.m. on June 16, 2006.
After stabbing Meraz, Krall turned the 12-inch knife -- which she took from Meraz's kitchen -- on the dead woman's 18-year-old daughter, the victim's sister and the victim's mother, according to authorities.
Meraz was stabbed 30 times, according to a coroner's investigator.
The prosecutor argued the killing and attempted killings were calculated attacks, noting that Krall waited until the "dark of night" to sneak through an open window, that she looked in the victims' kitchen and found "the biggest knife" they had and that Krall then turned off what lights were still on to make it more difficult for the victims to get away.
The defense argued there was no doubt his client killed Meraz and attacked the other women, but his client's mental state - hampered by what he called mental illness and psychosis and the use of drugs - made it impossible to find Krall guilty of first-degree murder.
The defendant, who was 22 at the time of the slaying, entered two pleas; not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
After the jury found her guilty of murder and attempted murder they were reconvened to determine her sanity at the time of the crime and ended up hopelessly deadlocked.
A new sanity phase was scheduled to begin at the Norwalk Superior Court Monday, but it was postponed during a motion's hearing held in Dept. K Friday.
The case has been turned over to a new prosecutor and it is now scheduled to begin July 16.
Krall remains in jail in lieu of $2.7 million bail, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Inmate Information Center.
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