Jury Deadlocks Again on Sanity

A second jury deadlocked Friday over whether a Pasadena dentist was insane when he murdered his estranged wife in La Jolla in 1987.

A mistrial was declared in the case of Douglas Dustin, 56, who was convicted in March, 1989, of first-degree murder in the shooting of his wife, Adelheid Dustin, 50. The jury that convicted him in 1989 also deadlocked on the sanity question.

Adelheid Dustin was shot in the head and chest on the street near her home in La Jolla. Dustin practiced dentistry in Pasadena but lived in San Marino at the time of the Sept. 13, 1987, shooting.

The Superior Court jury told Judge Bernard Revak they were deadlocked after three days of deliberations.

The foreman said 10 jurors voted that Dustin was sane and two voted that he was insane when he killed his wife.

“It looks like it will have to be tried a third time,” Revak told the jurors. “I think you were conscientious, but unfortunately you could not get 12 people to agree.”

Revak ordered Dustin to appear Tuesday before another judge to schedule a third trial on the sanity issue.

Dustin has been in County Jail for five years since he surrendered to Covina police the day after the shooting.