Jury deadlocks in actress’s LA marriage fraud case

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal jury has deadlocked on whether Mexican-born actress Fernanda Romero and her husband committed marriage fraud in order to skirt immigration laws.

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real declared a mistrial Friday after jurors told him delibrations had grown hostile and they could not reach unanimous verdicts.

Deliberations began Wednesday after a four-day trial in which Romero and her U.S.-born husband Kent Ross testified in their defense.

They told jurors they were in love when they married in 2005, but that they quickly grew apart. Ross testified he encouraged Romero to seek legal residency based on their marriage.

A federal prosecutor presented several documents showing that Romero had been living in Los Angeles even before the marriage, as well as lease agreements showing the couple had separate apartments.

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