Bergna freed after mistrial
Patty
DA mulls second murder prosecution in death of wife
By Anjeanette Damon
Reno Gazette-Journal
Wednesday November 21st, 2001
Whether the crash that claimed the life of Rinette Riella-Bergna was murder or a
tragic accident remained a mystery Tuesday morning when an emotional eight-week
trial of her husband ended with a hung jury.
Nine women and three men declared themselves unable to reach a unanimous verdict
in the case of Peter Bergna, a former Incline Village art appraiser, who remains
accused of murder in his wife’s death, but free on $750,000 bail as prosecutors
decide whether to put him on trial again.
“I’m happy to be going home, especially on this Thanksgiving,” Bergna said
shortly after being released from the Washoe County Jail about 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday. “This has been a very difficult year for me and I am looking forward to
putting my life back together.”
Bergna embraced his fiancée and kissed her cheeks before hugging his mother and
sobbing into her shoulder in a brief reunion with his family in front of news
cameras and reporters at the jail.
But for Riella-Bergna’s family, who sat through each day of testimony in
Bergna’s trial, the ending was a disappointment.
“We wanted a verdict,” her brother, Jack Riella, said. “This just prolongs the
agony a little bit. I still believe this is a winnable case. We knew this was a
tough case and I think the prosecution did a hell of a job. I hope they try it
again.”
Prosecutors will spend the next week reviewing the case, talking to police
investigators and individual jurors to decide whether they will retry Bergna.
Eight women and one man wanted to convict Bergna, while two men and one woman
remained convinced of his innocence, said defense lawyer David Smith, who talked
with jurors after the trial.
Juror Karina Azevedo of Reno said Tuesday night she was convinced of Bergna’s
guilt and was saddened that the trial ended in a hung jury.
“There was no way anybody was going to convince the other side,” she said. “We
tried everything.”
Washoe District Judge Brent Adams declared a mistrial at 10:30 a.m., shortly
after the jury ended six days of deliberation with a note saying they would not
reach a unanimous verdict with further deliberations.
Several jurors cried as Adams sent them away with commendations and patriotic
words about their duty as citizens.
“This is the longest and perhaps most difficult trial in my 27 year career as a
lawyer and judge,” Adams said. “I have never seen a better jury. You listened
with laser-like intensity to conflicting and complex and hard-to-understand
scientific testimony.”
In his initial discussion with jurors, Clifton said he didn’t hear anything that
would prevent him from seeking a new trial.
“It was somewhat encouraging,” he said. “We will know more when we speak to them
individually and that will have an extreme impact on our decision whether to
retry or not.”
Bergna, 48, is accused of crashing his truck through a guardrail on the Slide
Mountain Access Road on June 1, 1998, after fighting with his wife about her
time she spent away from home while traveling. Prosecutors contended he left two
open gasoline cans in the bed of the truck and jumped to safety moments before
it crashed over a mountain cliff.
Riella-Bergna’s body was found 700 feet down the mountain in the wreckage of
Bergna’s Ford F-150. Bergna, who broke his foot and scraped his head, was found
about 80 feet down the hill.
His lawyers argued the crash was an accident and that his pickup rolled to the
left as it pitched over the side, ejecting Bergna through his open driver’s side
window.
Since their first hour of deliberation on Nov. 13, the jury has been split nine
to three in favor of convicting Bergna, with no one willing to change their
opinion, said lawyers for both sides who briefly talked with jurors after the
trial.
On Thursday, they declared themselves at a standstill, but Adams ordered them to
continue deliberations. A note to the judge from the jury Friday complained
about a juror who believed God would take care of Bergna if he was guilty,
leading prosecutors to speculate there was a lone holdout.
But jurors decided to keep at it until the judge told them they could stop,
Chief Deputy District Attorney David Clifton said.
“They would’ve stuck it out right through Thanksgiving,” he said. “Nobody was
budging. We didn’t see any violation of any oath by any juror. We didn’t find
any juror refusing to deliberate. It looks like they worked very hard striving
for a verdict.”
Bergna, unemotional when the judge declared the mistrial, broke into tears when
the judge freed him to his mother’s custody on a $750,000 bail bond.
He and his family posted the bond, which included the deed to his $550,000
Incline Village house and $100,000 cash. While free, Bergna can only travel from
Washoe County to his Seattle home and to his mother’s home in Saratoga, Calif.
He was forced to relinquish his passport Tuesday.
His mother will face a contempt charge and possible jail time if Bergna jumps
bail.
“It was just a terrible accident. I hope now that justice is done,” said his
mother, Patricia Bergna. “We will always mourn Rinette’s death. Always.”
Clifton said jurors criticized his office for the lost evidence, such as the
guard post struck by Bergna’s truck. The post was discarded last summer by
Nevada Highway Patrol recruits who were cleaning the impound lot holding the
evidence to Bergna’s crash.
Jurors also said they were bothered that the crime scene, which was trampled on
by dozens of emergency personnel trying to rescue Bergna and his wife, wasn’t
better preserved.
To date, prosecutors have spent $87,000 on experts who testified during the
trial. District Attorney Dick Gammick said the sum does not include outstanding
expert bills, travel costs, fees for other witnesses, attorney hours or
investigator time.
The office dedicated two lawyers and three investigators to the case full time,
Gammick said.
“The cost is not the priority factor in this,” Gammick said about considerations
for a retrial. “It is simply one factor we look at.
“We’ll basically dissect this entire case and look it over very closely. We are
leaning in the direction of retrying it, unless something comes up. I don’t find
a mistrial or a hung jury to be justice. I want a verdict, either guilty or not
guilty.”
Michael Schwartz, who with Smith and Roberto Puentes defended Bergna, said the
team will be ready to represent him again if a new trial begins.
“Our next step is to wait,” Schwartz said. “The DA will have to make a decision
sometime down the road.”
While waiting for her Bergna to be released, his fiancee Robin Russell, who did
not appear in court during the trial, said she has supported him since his
arrest one year ago.
“It has been excruciatingly painful to have the man I love and will marry
accused of something he did not do,” Russell said. “I’ve stood by his side every
second and will continue to do that for the rest of my life.”
Russell said she met Bergna while fly-fishing, just after his wife was killed.
“He had just lost his wife and I had just turned 40 and wasn’t looking for a
marriage,” she said. “We both just needed a friend.
“He mourns the death of his wife deeply and misses her terribly, but he needs to
move on.”
Rinette-Riella’s brother took six weeks off of work to sit in the courtroom as
his sister’s representative. He was joined by other siblings and relatives on
many days of testimony. They had to return to work in Manteca, Calif., and could
not be in court for the verdict.
“I wanted the jury to know that there was a family that cares for her,” he said.
“Sometimes when they make a decision they are thinking of a pickup or an
inanimate object. She was not an inanimate object. That was my sister. She was a
good person. I wanted to make every effort I could to make sure I was doing
right by her.
“At least we got her day in court.”
crosem
died, and thus his wife had to go...???
Patty <eartha...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:MxWK7.33576$xS6....@www.newsranger.com...