Prosecutors will not seek a second trial against former Los Angeles police officer Salvador Sanchez, who shot and killed a mentally disabled man inside a Costco in Corona, the California attorney general's office said.
Sanchez faced one count of voluntary manslaughter for the killing of Kenneth French, 32, and two counts of assault with a firearm for wounding French's parents. But the mistrial was declared Jan. 18 after a Riverside County Superior Court jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on any of the charges.
The former LAPD officer could have faced a second trial, but the attorney general's office revealed during a hearing Friday that it would not retry the case.
A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice said the department stood by its initial decision to charge and prosecute Sanchez, despite the mistrial.
“After considering a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, input from surviving victims and comments from the trial jury, the Department decided not to retry the case,” the spokesperson said.
Michael Schwartz, Sanchez's attorney, said the former officer welcomed the attorney general's decision.
“The stress on the Sánchez family, both emotionally and financially, has been enormous,” Schwartz said. “In this point, [Sanchez] “He just wants to provide for his family and raise it in peace.”
The attorney general's office charged Sanchez in August 2021, about a month after the Riverside County district attorney's office announced it would not file charges against him.
At trial, Sanchez's attorneys said the off-duty police officer was holding his young son when French knocked him to the ground at Costco. Believing he had been shot, Sanchez pulled out his gun and fired 10 shots at French and his family of Riverside. The French were unarmed. The gunshots killed French and wounded his parents, who were nearby.
Schwartz said his client's only thought that day had been “defending his son and himself from a violent assault.”
However, a 30-page report released about the incident found inconsistencies in Sanchez's account of what happened inside the store.
Police documents revealed that French was about 20 feet away from Sanchez when the former officer shot him. The shooting, according to the documents, began about four seconds after French hit Sanchez.
Sanchez was fired in July 2020, after then-LAPD Chief Michel Moore and the city's civilian Police Commission found that Sanchez's actions violated department policy.
In October 2021, a federal jury awarded French's family $17 million after finding that Sanchez used excessive and unreasonable force.
Two years later, the Riverside County state jury deliberated for three and a half days without being able to agree on a verdict.
“The event was tragic for everyone,” Schwartz said. “Five years have passed. It’s time for everyone to move on.”
