Gang member and convicted murderer Timothy McGhee laughs during sentencing in Los Angeles.
The convictions and death sentence of the one-time leader of an Atwater Village street gang, who police believed committed at least a dozen murders and who was once on the US Marshals most-wanted list, were overturned Thursday by the California Supreme Court, which found a juror was improperly dismissed during deliberations.
Timothy McGhee was found guilty in 2007 of three murders and four attempted murders and is currently listed as a "condemned" inmate at Kern Valley State Prison.
The Supreme Court ruled the trial judge erred in removing juror No. 5, who other jurors complained had taken a position that all of the prosecution witnesses had been coached and who had a demonstrated an "anti-police or prosecution bias" during deliberations.
"The record does not support as a demonstrable reality the court's ruling that the discharged juror was unable to fulfill his duties as a juror," the justices wrote in the opinion. "The court's ruling therefore was an abuse of discretion."
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
The decision means McGhee will get a new trial decades after the spree killings that took place between 1997 and 2001, when police say McGhee used violence to control the narcotics trade in the neighborhoods around Los Feliz Boulevard between the LA River and San Fernando Boulevard.
McGhee was known to run the Toonerville street gang with a military-like structure, ordering his soldiers to participate in organized physical fitness and target practice at shooting ranges.
Detectives believed McGhee was responsible for numerous murders, including the September 2000 shooting of a 17-year-old boy who was sketching along the Los Angeles River, and minutes later, the killing of a homeless man who McGhee allegedly believed might have witnessed the teen's killing.
U.S. & World
McGhee was charged with murdering a 16-year-old boy in June 2000 because the teen shared McGhee's nickname.
The next summer McGhee was linked to the murder of a 21-year-old man from Pomona and the attempted murder of his pregnant girlfriend, who suffered brain damage. The baby survived.
LAPD detectives said weeks later that McGhee murdered three people at a home in Atwater Village because McGhee suspected a woman had told police about drug dealing. The woman's mother and another man were killed because they were witnesses, police said.
"Basically, he's a monster," former LAPD Det. Andy Teague told the LA Times in 2001.
In 2012, while on death row at San Quentin State Prison, McGhee was charged with slashing two corrections officers with a shank while returning to his cell from a shower.
The Los Angeles County prosecutor's office said it is reviewing the court ruling.
"We are aware of the decision handed down today by the California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Timothy Joseph McGhee," LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. "Our office is currently reviewing the Court’s ruling in detail. We will make a determination regarding whether to retry the case in the near future.
"We respect the court’s process and remain mindful of the impact this case has had on the victims, their families, and the community."
