THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 14, 1994 TAG: 9412140460
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Jurors reached a partial verdict in a murder-for-hire case Tuesday, convicting the alleged killer of plotting the death, but deadlocking on a more serious capital murder charge.
Six men and six women deliberated for more than 12 hours over three days before finding Ralph Shambaugh Jr. guilty of conspiracy. But they could not agree on charges of murder for hire and using a firearm to commit murder.
Shambaugh, 34, could receive the death penalty if the jury finds him guilty of killing northern Virginia developer John Kowalczyk in exchange for $25,000.
Fairfax County Circuit Judge Richard Jamborsky accepted the conspiracy verdict and ordered the jury to resume deliberations on the other counts. The panel deliberated until about 5 p.m., when the judge sent them home for the night.
On Wednesday, Jamborsky will consider whether to provide additional instructions to the jury.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Morrough said jurors are apparently having trouble determining whether Shambaugh pulled the trigger. ``We don't have to prove who pulled the trigger'' to win a capital murder conviction, Morrough told the judge.
``Those members of the jury who are voting for acquittal on those charges simply found the commonwealth's evidence is insufficient,'' countered Shambaugh's lawyer, Peter D. Greenspun.
Most of the details about an alleged accomplice, James Alting, were excluded from the two-week trial.
Jamborsky said that if the jurors were unable to reach verdicts on the other two charges Wednesday, he would excuse them and sentence Shambaugh on the conspiracy count. The felony carries a prison term of five to 20 years and up to $100,000 in fines.
Jurors began Friday afternoon reviewing more than 50 complex documents in the case, which turns on circumstantial evidence, such as phone and bank records. by CNB