Jury Deadlocks in Deaths of Father, Son

LANCASTER — In the wake of jury deadlock, prosecutors said Friday that they will seek a new trial for William Raymond Strong, a 39-year-old Acton man who shot a father and son, allegedly because he was distraught over the killing of his dog.

The defense had argued that the shootings were in self-defense.

Jurors in Lancaster Superior Court split 8 to 4 in favor of acquitting Strong on a second-degree murder charge in the death of Kenneth R. Laux, 59, of Acton. The split was 11 to 1 in favor of conviction on voluntary manslaughter in the death of the son, Kenneth R. Laux Jr., 34, of Pearblossom.

Jury members deliberated the case for two weeks before telling the judge on Thursday they were hopelessly deadlocked.

Strong’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Mitch Bruckner, argued in court that his client shot the father and son on Feb. 12 because Strong was worried about his personal safety--not the loss of his pet, as argued by the prosecution.

“When the jury got to analyze the evidence, that was found to be groundless,” Bruckner said. “What motivated him to shoot at the Lauxes was the fact that the Lauxes got guns, fired a round into the desert, put the guns in their truck and drove aggressively to Mr. Strong’s property, where Mr. Strong greeted them with a shotgun and ordered them to leave.

The father and son then stepped out and rushed toward Strong, the defense attorney said.

“At that point, Mr. Strong had a matter of seconds to decide what to do,” Bruckner said. “He decided to shoot.”

Bruckner described Strong as a loner who was upset that someone had killed his dog a month before the shooting. He acknowledged that Strong had confronted his neighbors, sometimes angrily, trying to find out who was responsible for the dog’s death.

But Bruckner said his client’s anger had cooled by the time the Lauxes drove to his trailer, apparently because Strong had fired a shot out his window toward the property of the elder Laux, who lived down the hill from Strong’s trailer.

Investigators said the father and son had been drinking alcohol and had firearms in the cab of their pickup. But investigators also pointed out that when Strong fired at the two men approaching him, their weapons were still inside the truck.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kelly Cromer, who argued the case for the prosecution, could not be reached for comment.