The jury found Scott Thomas guilty, but couldn't decide whether he was legally sane or insane.
Fifteen-year-old Loren Schaller was seriously injured at Creighton's Bakery on May 19, 2007, when she was stabbed by Thomas who was mistakenly paroled from San Quentin the day before.
A doctor who was in the bakery saved her life by stemming the blood from the wound in her neck and a passerby chased Thomas and assisted police in capturing him. "I think it's unfortunate for the girl and her family to have to go through this again," he said.
Kubitz is referring to the jury's inability to decide if Thomas was legally sane when he committed the crime.
The jury had already found him guilty of attempted murder early last month and was deliberating on the sanity phase of the trial. But it took a bizarre twist.
"The big surprise was yesterday when we thought we had a verdict then found we didn't," Loren's father Tim Schaller said.
Jurors told the judge they received a unanimous verdict that Thomas was sane. But in court on Monday, at least two jurors said they changed their minds.
Then on Tuesday, the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial.
All this even stunned Thomas' lawyer.
"It's a mystery how this last stage played out," defense attorney Stephen Rosen said.
One juror felt Thomas was sane at the time of the crime.
"The way he premeditated the act and the way he carried it out, he was not delusional," Katherine Hornbach said.
The prosecution says it will re-try Thomas.
"This guy is very dangerous and he's a sociopath. Whatever is wrong with him, they can't fix in a hospital," assistant district attorney Scot Clark said.
Kubitz couldn't agree more.
"He made a decision about where he was going to commit the crime and who he was going to attack. And in my mind that indicates he knew what he was doing that day," he said.
The district attorney's office will re-try the sanity phase and ABC7 was told that it will probably occur in the fall. If Thomas is found sane, he faces life in prison and if he is not, he will be sent to a state mental hospital until the sanity is restored.
