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Mistrial Declared in Ferrari Crash Case
Nov 03 2:45 PM US/Eastern
A judge declared a mistrial Friday in the fraud and grand theft trial of a Swedish businessman whose 162-mph wreck in a classic Ferrari led to the charges alleging he stole two luxury sports cars.
Jurors told Judge Patricia Schnegg they were deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting Bo Stefan Eriksson.
Eriksson, 44, was charged with two counts each of grand theft and fraudulent concealment with intent to defraud. Prosecutors said he stopped making payments on two luxury sports cars he had borrowed millions of dollars to lease and then tried to hide them.
Eriksson had previously pleaded no contest to a drunk driving charge in connection with the Feb. 21 crash that destroyed a rare Ferrari Enzo valued at $1.5 million.
He still faces trial on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm _ a .357-Magnum handgun that authorities said they found when they searched his $6 million Bel-Air home in March.
Eriksson was not charged with stealing the red Enzo he smashed up on the Pacific Coast Highway but of taking a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and a black Ferrari Enzo that prosecutors said he acquired in England through a series of sham transactions.
The defense acknowledged during the trial that Eriksson quit making payments on the cars late last year. But defense attorney Jim Parkman said he did so only after his company went broke, not because he intended to steal the cars.
He had been an executive with now-defunct Gizmondo, a European videogame company.
, Tue, 7 Nov 2006 18:39:12, Fri, 3 Nov 2006 14:36:22
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