A teen alleged gang member was found not guilty of murder Friday in the 2013 fatal shooting a 41-year-old man who was lured to South L.A. with a Craigslist posting about a cellphone for sale.
Ryan Roth, now 19, was charged in connection with the October 2013 shooting death of Rene Balbuena, 41.
A verdict was reached in a downtown L.A. criminal courthouse Friday afternoon, a Los Angeles County Superior Court spokesperson said. Deliberations began Tuesday afternoon.
The jury found Roth not guilty of murder, attempted murder and four robbery counts, a spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office said.
The jury was deadlocked and could not reach a verdict on two other robbery counts.
The defendant showed little reaction to the verdict, but winked at his attorney.
Balbuena was with his 15-year-old son when he drove to 92nd Street and Gramercy Place with in an effort to purchase a cellphone that had been advertised on Craigslist.
Roth and Markell Thomas allegedly approached the car in which the father-son pair had arrived and demanded money, police said at the time. Balbeuna was shot when he got out of his car; his son was also shot but was treated and released.
The suspects fled without any cash, police said.
Thomas already pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter and two counts of second-degree robbery, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Friday. Thomas has not been sentenced yet.
Thomas was suspected in seven similar Craigslist robberies that occurred in the Baldwin Hills area before Balbuena’s death, police said in 2013.
Roth, who goes by “Casper,” and Thomas, who goes by “Foe Much,” were members of the same Inglewood gang, police said. Roth’s attorney denied that he was a gang member.