Mistrail in Fired Pomerado Hospital Worker Death Threats Case

A deadlocked jury prompted a judge to declare a mistrial Tuesday for a fired Pomerado Hospital employee accused of posting threatening messages saying he planned to go on a killing spree against former supervisors and co-workers.

Jurors told Judge Joan Weber that they were deadlocked 11-1 for guilt on all six counts of making criminal threats against Jelaan Ayinde Miles, 26.

A status conference was set for Nov. 12. Miles faces more than six years in prison if convicted.

Detectives raided a home in the 2500 block of Fenton Parkway last April 18, seizing computers and firearms and arresting Miles. During their search, investigators found videos they say Miles made in which he shows off his mother's gun and a sword, according to Deputy District Attorney Adam Gordon.

Miles worked at Pomerado Hospital as an environmental service worker, which includes housekeeping. He was fired in June 2012, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing in June.

An administrative supervisor at the hospital, identified only as Marvene, testified that she had a few problems with Miles not following protocol last year.

She testified that in early May, a worker from the operating room called her to complain that Miles had crossed into a sterile area without shoe covers. When confronted, Miles demanded to know who turned him in, Marvene testified.

Later in the operating room, Miles slammed a phone to the ground and threw coffee against the wall, the witness said. Marvene said she told Miles to leave and "cool off," but he was found cleaning another area and was escorted out of the building.

This past April, a supervisor called Marvene to inform her about a posting on the website Yelp, in which the author threatened "to kill everyone in the hospital," including herself.

"I was first on the list. I was afraid," she testified.

Sheriff's Detective Trina Cremans testified that the threats -- also posted on the website Glassdoor -- were "extremely serious."

Detectives used email coordinates to track Miles down at a Mission Valley apartment where he lived with his parents, Cremans said. In the defendant's room, detectives found an airsoft gun that looked real and three Samurai swords, she testified.

Cremans said detectives asked Miles about being fired from the hospital.

"He was very angry about it. He didn't feel it was justified," Cremans testified.

Miles said he had stopped taking his medications in November 2012 and admitted posting the threats online, the detective testified. She said the defendant also told her that he was "80 percent sure" he was going to go through with the threats and killings for revenge and to "ruin their (the victims') world."

—City News Service