Life For Shooter, Mistrial For Alleged Accomplice In PC World Editor's Murder

A Contra Costa County Superior Court judge in Martinez declared a mistrial Friday for one of two men accused of killing PC World editor Rex Farrance, 59, and pistol-whipping his wife during a home-invasion robbery in Pittsburg in 2007.

Judge Jill Fannin found that the jury was hopelessly deadlocked and unable to reach a verdict for Montrell Hall, 25, on charges of murder, robbery, burglary, assault with a firearm and conspiracy as well as the special circumstances allegation that he killed Farrance in the commission of a robbery.

Late Wednesday afternoon, jurors convicted Hall's co-defendant, 27-year-old Darryl Hudson, of the same charges. Hudson faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to prosecutor Harold Jewett.

A third defendant in the case, 27-year-old Tremaine Amos, was originally going to be tried with Hall and Hudson, but pleaded guilty the week before the trial began to voluntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison and testified against Hudson and Hall during trial.

Farrance, a senior technical editor at PC World magazine in San Francisco, was killed Jan. 9, 2007, inside his home in the 100 block of Argosy Court.

On the night of the attack, Farrance was home with his wife Lenore van Tosh-Farrance, when, shortly after 9 p.m., a group of masked men kicked in the front door, Jewett said during the trial.

Tosh-Farrance had recently had surgery on her foot and was in bed with her foot elevated when her husband came running into the bedroom, shut the door and started trying to get a gun out of his gun safe.

Seconds later, at least two of the intruders came into the room.

"Where's the money, bitch," one of the men asked Tosh-Farrance and pointed a gun at her.

As she frantically searched for money, the man struck her in the head with the gun.

Jewett said that by this time Farrance had most likely gotten his gun, but when he heard the men threaten his wife, he surrendered, a move that likely saved her life.

Farrance was still sitting or kneeling on the floor when one of the men, believed to be Hudson, shot him once in the chest from three or four feet away.

The men then took Farrance's gun safe, some marijuana and a laptop computer, and fled the house.

Jewett said the house was most likely targeted because Farrance and his son were growing marijuana in the attic.

While Hudson is believed to be the shooter, Jewett said he believes Hall participated in the robbery and, during trial, he argued that Hall was the man who pistol-whipped Tosh-Farrance.

Under California's felony murder rule, if a person participates in certain felonies, such as robbery, and somebody is killed while the crime is being committed, all the parties involved in the underlying felony can be charged with murder.

Outside the courtroom, Hall's attorney Daniel Horowitz expressed sympathy for Farrance's family because they didn't get resolution in the case, but pointed out that a hung jury is just as valid a verdict as guilty or not guilty.

"It's the public's way of saying we have strong suspicions, but we're not convinced," Horowitz said.

He said that evidence presented at trial connected Hudson to several guns, and potentially the gun used to kill Farrance, but "Hall has no connection to any guns."

During his closing arguments, Horowitz argued that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against Hall beyond a reasonable doubt.

Nakeya Hall, Hall's older sister who flew in from North Carolina to support her brother during the trial, said her family believes Hall is innocent.

She said her brother had been involved in several other robberies and was "guilty by association," but that he was not guilty of killing Farrance.

"We feel a bit of relief, but we also know that it's not over," Nakeya Hall said.

Jewett told the judge he wanted to retry Hall as soon as possible. They are scheduled to return to court Wednesday to set a date for a new trial.