OCEANSIDE — An Oceanside gang member avoided a life in prison sentence when jurors in his trial informed a Superior Court Judge on March 6 they were deadlocked.

After the jury informed Judge Timothy Casserly that the panel was hung 6-5 in favor of guilt with the 12th juror undecided, Casserly declared a mistrial in Joseph Moreno’s kidnapping for carjacking case.

Immediately following the decision, Deputy District Attorney Terri Perez set a March 11 status conference to prepare for a retrial.

Moreno, 28, who’s also known as Marcus Englebrecht, is charged with one count of kidnapping for carjacking and three counts of kidnapping, because the victim’s two young children were also in the car during the early evening Nov. 9 incident.

Both Moreno and the victim, Angelina Quesada, agreed about the time and places they traveled on the night in question; however, their perceptions of the event are light years apart.

Quesada testified that she did what she could to comply with Moreno, who she said entered her car without her permission as she was sitting in the parking lot of an Oceanside McDonald’s and then had her drive him to several city residences while telling her he was a parolee at large and a gang member.

However, Moreno testified he thought Quesada agreed to give him a ride and he even offered her money and his watch for her trouble. He said there were a couple of moments when he sensed Quesada was getting nervous, but he tried to calm her by informing her he wasn’t carrying any weapons and wasn’t interested in harming her.

“He’s guilty of every count once he knows she’s afraid, because at that point he’s taken control of the car, Quesada and her children,” Perez said.

Moreno remains in custody in lieu of $250,000 bail.