Mistrial declared in Hopewell murder case

HOPEWELL -- Rontel Taylor's decision to change his hairstyle last week effectively caused a mistrial yesterday in his murder case.

As jurors in his first-degree murder trial deliberated his fate during the trial's second day, one panel member suddenly realized she knew the defendant and told her fellow jurors. She apparently didn't recognize him earlier because he had cut off his dreadlocks around Oct. 8 and now sports a close-cut look.

A photo of Taylor in his dreadlocks, introduced into evidence, apparently jogged her memory, authorities said.

Because her personal knowledge of the defendant could potentially influence the jury's decision, Circuit Judge James F. D'Alton Jr. indicated he had no choice but to grant a defense motion for a mistrial.

How the juror knew Taylor and to what degree wasn't disclosed yesterday.

"As a general rule, you don't [want jurors] to have any general knowledge of, or bias for, the defendant," said Hopewell Commonwealth's Attorney Anthony N. Sylvester, who was clearly disappointed with yesterday's surprise development.

The fact that the juror knew Taylor was less of an issue than her sharing that information with her fellow jurors, Sylvester said.

The family of the victim -- Alfonzo "Fonz" Patillo -- reacted angrily in the courtroom after receiving the news. "It's been two years!" one family member said, referring to the time that's passed since Patillo, 30, was shot to death in the parking lot outside the Veterans of Foreign Wars club on Feb. 4, 2008, after attending a Super Bowl party there with his cousin, James "Soul" Patillo, 37.

"This is an added burden to the family," Sylvester said. "This is a family that went through a mistrial in the Richmond case."

Sylvester was referring to the first murder trial for Jason L. Patillo, a cousin of Alfonzo, who was later convicted of fatally shooting James Patillo in Richmond a few hours after Alfonzo's slaying in Hopewell. Jason Patillo fatally shot his cousin after wrongly believing James Patillo was responsible for Alfonzo's death, according to testimony at his trial.

After Alfonzo was slain in Hopewell, a rumor circulated among Patillo relatives in Richmond that James Patillo had been involved in Alfonzo's death and had set him up to be robbed. A Richmond Circuit Court jury convicted Jason Patillo last November of first-degree murder and sentenced him to 23 years in prison.

Yesterday's mistrial came after nearly two days of testimony and nearly three hours of jury deliberation. Sylvester quickly moved to schedule a new trial but no firm date can be set until the grand jury meets again Dec. 8.

Bad blood between the families of the victim and the defendant -- and the potential for an outbreak of violence -- caused Hopewell authorities to take extraordinary security measures. Police vehicles blocked the road in front of the courthouse and officers wearing SWAT gear and armed with semi-automatic rifles roamed the grounds and parking lot.

The prosecution called more than a dozen witnesses to try to make its largely circumstantial case that Taylor ambushed Patillo in the VFW parking lot as about 175 patrons were filing out of the club about 1:45 a.m. Witnesses reported hearing or seeing a gunman fire two shots into the air before confronting Patillo and shooting him in the head at close range. He died within minutes in the arms of his best friend, Chris Tuck.

"I broke down and cried," Tuck testified Thursday.

Tuck didn't get a good look at the gunman but two other prosecution witnesses, including Patillo cousin Jermaine Washington, picked Taylor's picture out of police photo files. Both witnesses testified that the gunman looked strikingly similar to Taylor but they couldn't be 100 percent sure. A third witness, Jerome White, who was largely discredited by defense attorney David C. Fratarcangelo, positively identified Taylor as the shooter.

Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or .