Jury Selection Continues In Retrial Of Ventura County Child Molest Case

Sunday December 15, 2024

     Updated--Jury selection continues Monday in the retrial of a man accused in an extensive child molestation case.

     A mistrial was declared in the 2023 trial of 46-year-old Micah Smith of Calabasas after the jury said they were hopelessly deadlocked on reaching a verdict on any of the counts.

     Smith is facing of three dozen charges and special allegations.

     He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and has denied all special allegations and testified in his own defense in the first trial.

     The alleged victims, who are now adults, also testified at the first trial.

     While all of those involved are out of county residents, the alleged crimes are said to have happened in Ventura County.

     When the judge asked the jury in the first trial to indicate their numerical split without indicating guilty or not guilty, the response indicated a jury that wasn't even close to reaching unanimous verdicts on any of the counts.

     Since jury selection for the second trial began last week groups of prospective jurors have been brought to court, briefed on the case, and then given questionnaires to be filled out and returned to jury services.

     They will then return to court later in the week to go through jury selection.

     That process will be repeated until both sides agree on 12 jurors and several alternates to hear the case.

    Smith remains in the Ventura County jail with bail set at more than $3 million.