Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson declared a mistrial Tuesday after a jury deadlocked on whether a Hermosa Beach woman was sane when she killed a 65-year-old Latino man with her car in Van Nuys nearly three years ago.

In a 10-2 vote, the majority of the jurors agreed with the prosecution and felt that Marie Elise West was sane at the time of the murder of Jesus Plascencia. The same jury, after two days of deliberation, found West guilty of second-degree murder Nov. 22.

On Nov. 29, jurors began to examine all of the evidence in the case to determine whether or not the 39-year-old woman was sane or insane during the crime that occurred in September of 2000.

In late November, the jury was asked to decide whether West was guilty or not guilty of either first-degree or second-degree murder and if West killed Plascencia because he was a Latino (an added hate crime charge) argued by prosecutor John Allen Ramseyer. West pleaded not guilty to the crime along with a not-guilty plea by reason of insanity.

West still remains in custody and will appear in court this Friday for a pretrial hearing. Most likely, a second jury will be selected and asked to make the same determination.

If found sane, West could spend up to 15 years in state prison and if found insane she will be sent to live in a mental hospital indefinitely.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge initially deemed West mentally incompetent to stand trial for running down and killing Plascencia during the early morning hours of Sept. 1, 2000, because of his ethnicity.

Prosecutors later said they would not seek the death penalty for West, who was charged with murder with special circumstances. In December, the court ruled that West was competent to stand trial for the crime. Originally, Judge Michael S. Luros ordered that West be sent to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino, based on reports written by the prosecutor’s and defendant’s psychiatrists, both of whom were in agreement of West’s mental condition. West would remain at Patton and would stand trial if and when doctors ever thought her competency had returned.

Everything changed for West in May when the court modified its ruling and deemed her competent to return to court for the proceedings.

According to witnesses, West ran down Plascencia with her Volvo as the elderly man walked out of a bagel store and into the parking lot near the corner of Stagg Street and Sepulveda Boulevard. West dragged the man 30 yards out of the parking lot and into the intersection where officers eventually found his body. After killing Plascencia, West drove back into the parking lot and bought a bagel after making ethnic slurs and commenting on the dead “road kill” in the street.

Plascencia worked as a busboy for Weiler’s Deli in Van Nuys for 20 years. His daily routine began around 4 a.m. when he would pick up bagels for the deli owner at the bagel store.

West’s attorney, Angelyn Gates, argued that she is bipolar and was suffering from a manic episode during the time of the incident. District Attorney Ramseyer argued the incident was a premeditated hate crime in which West was waiting to kill Plascencia.

Bowman said he attempted to hide the car keys from his wife the night of the killing but that she found a spare set and drove off. Gates argued that West was suffering from hallucinations during the week of the incident. She also argued that West is not a racist with the testimony of several family members and friends.

Bowman has also said in the past West has been in and out of hospitals several times for the chemical imbalance and she had been taking 17 different medications prior to the crime. He also claims that his wife’s mental condition is genetic. She was diagnosed as bipolar in 1990 and prior to that had exhibited promise in the area of academics as a student at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Law School.