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On Friday, May 31st, 2013 in downtown Los Angeles at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Courthouse in Department 109, starting at 9 am the jury deciding on the fate of accused murderer Kelly Soo Park continued to deliberate for the sixth full day.   Kelly Soo has finally finished her trial for the murder of aspiring actress and model, Juliana Redding, which occurred on March 15th 2008; and now she continues in awaiting her fate which is in the hands of the jury.

The families of both the victim and the accused perpetrator are seated in their usual places in the court room. The accused’s mother, Irene Park, sits on the end of the third bench holding her dark red paisley printed shawl around her.   The court room is cold this morning, as it often is, and Irene often feels cold in this court room. Sometimes she shivers.

Irene Park is about 73 years old, a small diminutive woman, and Lithuanian-American. She appears tiny in comparison to her 5’ 10” daughter, Kelly Soo, who is model tall and beautifully slender at only 150 pounds. Kelly is Lithuanian-American-Korean; her father is Keun-Sil, who is about 77 years-old and is Korean, living presently in Korea. He has never appeared in the court room.   Neither has her famous sister, Kolleen Park, a gifted performing arts singer and musicals director in South Korea, ever appeared in the court room for any of the proceedings ever.

Juliana Redding

But Kelly Soo’s Aunt Valle (her mother’s sister), and her uncle, have attended every trial proceeding and almost all of the pre-trial proceedings. So has her eldest sister, Kim. So have so many other friends, such as the loyal Deborah Van Cleave, who once worked for Munir Uwaydah, and Randy, Mark, and various others who are friends, relatives, and supporters whose faces appear over and over again. This group regularly takes up almost all the two back benches, with the journalists and camera crew filling in on the ends nearest the wall as they can.

The camera men and journalists now wait day after day for this verdict. The time wears on in perpetual boredom for all. People yawn and stretch; get up and walk out to the corridor for a while, and then come back in. Some read regular paper books, some read Kindles. Some read newspapers and magazines. Many stare at their cell phones doing all kinds of things on them.

Greg Redding, the father of the victim, sits on the end in the second row--which is dedicated for only the Redding family by the bailiff—in his black suit and his very dark hair. The Reddings’ son, Patrick, is in a dark blue suit just next to his father, and then there’s young Sarah, who seems to have been a good friend of Juliana, and then Patricia Redding, Juliana’s mother. Today Patricia has her sandy blonde hair back in her customary French twist and is wearing a tweed skirt, blue jacket, with a yellow blouse and scarf. Patty, as she is known, has blue eyes and always dresses artistically and in style, as would a Jackie Kennedy Onassis type.

The wait goes on… with everyone in their turfs but moving around enough to break the boredom.

Kelly Soo Park's aunt and uncle (her mother's siblings) leave the L.A. Criminal Courthouse on Thursday, May 30th 2013. Copyright © Lonce LaMon. All rights reserved.

Suddenly, two buzzes sound. Everyone becomes attentive, hopeful. Three buzzes means the jury has reached a verdict. Two buzzes mean only that they have a question. So, it’s another question. Everyone seems to inaudibly sigh.

The bailiff walks to the back door, opens it, grabs something, and walks back with a piece of folded paper. He reads it. He looks exasperated. He motions to Lori, the court clerk, and says, “Lori, you need to call for the attorneys.”

Kelly Soo and her husband, Tom Chronister, the retired cop who is suing the City of Oxnard for depriving him of some of his privileges over his association with Kelly, walk back in and sit down on the end of the bench in the very back row. Kelly’s wearing the white sweater she’s been wearing for days, along with her usual black pants with a blue and white striped shirt. Her long dark hair flows beautifully and usually over her back and shoulders as if nothing is going on.

Then Kim walks in, Kelly Soo’s sister. She’s a large and tall Amazon looking woman who’s in a black, short sleeved top, tan pants, and her usual penny loafers. She acknowledges Kelly and Tom and moves down the back row. Greg Redding gets up and walks out. Then come Kelly Soo’s defense attorneys, George Buehler and Mark Kassabian, wearing almost identical charcoal colored suits.

Patricia, Greg, and Patrick Redding walk through the Farmers' Market on May 14th 2013, the second day of the trial and the last day of jury selection. Copyright © Lonce LaMon; all rights reserved.

The jury wants part of their jury instructions read back to them from page 11, instruction 521. This is the instruction on the distinction between First Degree Murder and Second Degree Murder. The jury files in through the back door, the alternates through the front. The reading begins: “The defendant is guilty of First Degree Murder if he willfully, deliberately and with premeditation” acted to cause the death of the victim. There is an emphasis on the idea of premeditation--that the defendant acted with premeditation.

The amount of time in deliberation may differ from person to person. It does not have to be a long period of time that the defendant premeditates the murder. The words, “a cold, calculated decision can be reached quickly,” was read back.

Then the description of Second Degree Murder was read back. Murder in the Second Degree is the unlawful killing of a human being, but without premeditation and deliberation.

Both First and Second Degree Murder are done with malice. They can be done with either Express Malice or Implied Malice. The salient characteristic that distinguishes First Degree Murder is premeditation.

Irene Park shakes hands with George Buehler on June 11, 2012 after court soon after Buehler and Kassabian took over the defense from Stephen Bernard and Alena Klimianok. In the background left to right are Kim Park, Valle, unknown woman of Park clan, and Kelly Soo Park on the back right in dark glasses. Copyright Lonce LaMon. All rights reserved.

The reading ended and Judge Kathleen Kennedy spoke. She said either to the alternate jurors or to those waiting in the audience seats or to both, “You’ve probably completed reading War and Peace by now.” Then, Judge Kennedy turned directly to the prosecution and stated:

The judge paused and then looking directly at Deputy District Attorney Stacy Okun-Wiese in her greyish beige, neutral colored pants suit, “Something you may want to think about.”

Stacy immediately replied, “Thank you.”

Everyone was sort of silently stunned. Everyone realized just what the judge was explicitly implying: that the jury is debating between First and Second Degree Murder. This means they see the crime as murder in either the First or Second Degree and not as not guilty. A not-guilty verdict is not what’s happening.

Juliana Redding's friends leave the courthouse on Friday afternoon after waiting all day for a verdict. Sarah is on the far left, then Brian Van Holt; and Cher Brooks is on the far right. Copyright © Lonce LaMon; all rights reserved.

In prosecutor Stacy Okun-Wiese’s closing arguments, she discussed Express Malice and Implied Malice:

“Express malice means exactly what it sounds like: an intent to kill. When you put a gun to somebody’s head, there can be no mistake about it; you intended to kill them. Likewise, when you put your hands around somebody’s neck with enough force to break their hyoid bone (as what happened to Juliana Reddin), there can be no mistake that you intended to kill your victim.

“Make no mistake about it ladies and gentlemen, we have express malice in this case.”

Stacey explained Implied Malice. She stated that Implied Malice means the killing resulted from an intentional act, the natural consequences of that act are dangerous to human life; the act was deliberately performed with knowledge of the danger to and with conscious disregard for human life.

Stacy’s example was the hypothetical situation of one driving at 6 o’clock at night by a Xerox store. One sees the lights on, cars in the parking lot, but the “Closed” sign is up. But no one is seen immediately behind the glass.

“I decide for whatever reason that it would just be wonderful if I took out my nine millimeter and I shot through the glass. For whatever reason I decided I want to break that window open. I don’t see anybody inside, but I decide I am going to shoot anybody.

“My act of shooting into that store is an intentional act, and the natural consequences of that act, if there is somebody in that store, is either great bodily injury or death, if they get shot.

“And the act was deliberately performed with knowledge of the danger to and with conscious disregard for human life. I should know that if there are people inside of that store—and I should know that because there are lights on and there are cars in the parking lot, and I know that there could potentially be people inside – and I decide, you know what? I don’t care; I am going to shoot anyway; that, ladies and gentlemen, is implied malice. And likewise, we have that in this case. Did the defendant commit an intentional act? Putting your hands around somebody’s neck is an intentional act.

Cher Brooks worked with Juliana Redding at Primitivo Wine Bistro at Venice Beach, California. She was a witness in the trial and now awaits the jury verdict with Juliana's family and friends. Copyright © Lonce LaMon. All rights reserved.

“Were the natural consequences of the act dangerous to human life? And the answer is obviously yes because Juliana Redding is no longer here with us.”

So, the jury appears to be deliberating between two choices: First Degree or Second Degree Murder. The prosecutor gave them the choice of both. She explained how both express and implied malice happened in this case of the murder of Juliana Redding. So, what now will the jury decide? First Degree? Second Degree?

Everyone knows now that it could be one or the other, or else a hung jury. The jury could split without a unanimous verdict of all on one side for First Degree or all for Second Degree. Will the District Attorney decide to take First Degree off the table in order to be more secure of at least getting a murder conviction?

The lunch break arrived and the court emptied. After lunch, Brian Van Holt, the actor who was with Juliana Redding and her other friend, Cher Brooks, the night before she was murdered, came in and sat on the end of the Reddings’ row next to Greg Redding. His hair was a bit messed up with parts sticking up, as is his usual look as if he just rolled out of bed, and he wore a dark off-white short sleeved sport shirt. He was described by DDA Stacy Okun-Wiese as “the nicest guy”.

Actor Brian Van Holt, right, walks down No. Broadway looking at his cell phone after court closed on Friday. He was a friend of Juliana Redding who was with her the night before her murder which happened March 15th 2008. Juliana's friend, Sarah, is at the left. Copyright © Lonce LaMon. All rights reserved.

The wait continued and by 2:30 pm Kelly Soo Park had her eyes closed with her left hand on her husband’s right thigh. In her right hand she was holding a folded cloth. She opened her eyes again. She looked worried. She looked down; then towards this writer. She looked scared. She closed her eyes again. An unknown man never seen before walked in holding a book that evoked the appearance of a Bible. He and Kelly Soo exchanged a smile. Kelly kept the folded cloth in her hand and crossed her wrists. There was a frozen, unexpressive look on her face.

The afternoon waned and the weariness grew. Kelly Soo and Tom played with their cell phone. Kelly has very long slender fingers with modestly long and contoured clear painted fingernails. Two buzzes happen again. The jurors want to leave.

The back door soon opened and the attorneys stood and respectfully waited for all jurors to stroll by one by one. No one seated in the gallery moved until they had all filed out.