Jurors last week heard Alvin Ruis describe how he choked his cellmate to death as the young man cried for help and repeatedly pushed the panic button in his San Diego County jail cell.
This week, a mistrial was declared after they could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Judge Kimberlee A. Lagotta ended the proceeding late Wednesday, after the jury reported being hopelessly deadlocked in the case against Ruis, who testified that he had killed Brandon Yates in the throes of a psychotic break.
The vote was 11-1 in favor of a guilty finding on the first-degree murder charge.
Prosecutors said they will re-try the defendant, and a hearing is scheduled for Nov. 10 to determine how to proceed. The District Attorney’s Office declined to comment, beyond confirming that Ruis would face a new trial.
Defense attorney Gretchen von Helms noted that evidence was presented at trial showing that her client was suffering from bipolar disorder and other mental health conditions.
“As our client testified before the jury, he feels awful for the Yates family, and all he wants to do is go to a mental hospital and get well,” she said. “Unfortunately, the jail had not given Mr. Ruis any anti-psychotic medication during this period, even though there were clear indications that he needed the medication.”
Dan Yates, who is Brandon Yates’ father and watched most of the San Diego Superior Court trial, said the hung jury was difficult and deeply disappointing for the family to process, but they are grateful the case will move forward.
Brandon Yates was killed in jail by his cellmate as he called repeatedly for help. (Yates family)
“Brandon was our son, a brother, an uncle and someone who was deeply loved,” Dan Yates said. “Nothing about this process can bring him back, but we will continue to stand up for him and be his voice for as long as it takes.
“We remain hopeful that ultimately there will be accountability and justice for Brandon.”
The Yates family has filed a civil lawsuit against San Diego County, alleging that the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office failed to protect Brandon while he was in its custody. That case is on hold while the criminal proceeding against Ruis moves forward.
A 39-year-old former wrestler and professional jockey, Ruis admitted placing Yates into a headlock within hours after the young man was moved into his cell early in 2024.
Court records show Ruis had already been designated “keep separate” by jail staff due to his bipolar disorder and prior violent behavior toward other people in custody.
Yates also suffered from mental illness; he had been arrested one day earlier after being found asleep in someone else’s backyard shed.
Ruis testified last week that he is now thinking clearly, due to proper medication he is now being administered in jail.
He also said Yates had sounded an in-cell alarm up to six times during his assault, but no one came to his aid. He attacked Yates, he said, because he wanted to kill the devil inside him; he testified that he only released his hold when Yates turned purple.
“He was screaming, ‘He’s going to kill me! He’s going to kill me!’” Ruis told the jury. “I was waiting for the deputies to come.”
Ruis was charged with first- and second-degree murder following the Jan. 16, 2024, killing. The jury was tasked with considering his guilt or innocence, and would have evaluated whether he were sane at the time of the crime upon any conviction.
Brandon Yates’ brother Ryan Yates, left, mother Andrea Carrier and father Dan Yates announce the filing of their lawsuit against San Diego County and Sheriff Kelly Martinez on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, in San Diego. Brandon Yates was tortured and killed in a jail cell in January 2024. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
In his testimony last week, Ruis did not deny that he had killed Yates. Rather, he and his legal team walked the jury through the weeks and months leading up to his deadly attack.
He testified that he began experiencing hallucinations in the fall of 2024 and was twice placed into psychiatric treatment. At one point, he told the jury he had once believed he was a reincarnation of the apostle Paul, with whom he shared commonalities such as shipbuilding and horsemanship.
Ruis also testified that he believed he was receiving messages from Travis Barker, the drummer for the Poway-based rock band Blink-182. He also said he believed World War III was imminent and that San Diego would soon be bombed.
He moved his wife and children to Montana to keep them safe from what he thought was a looming bombardment, but there he ended up in a psychiatric hospital against his wishes.
His family returned to San Diego County weeks later, he told the jury. When Ruis turned up at the Eastlake home after being released from the Montana facility, he attacked his wife, who later got a restraining order barring him from the home.
Ruis then traveled to London in order to visit St. Paul’s Cathedral, but he assaulted a woman on the plane who he testified had appeared to him “demonic.”
He was arrested at the airport and medicated against his will, then allowed to return to the United States a week or so later. He returned to his family’s Chula Vista home and was arrested by sheriff’s deputies for violating the court order.
Yates, meanwhile, had his own challenges. The 24-year-old had been experiencing mental illness for several years and was homeless when deputies arrested him on Jan. 15, 2024, after he had fallen asleep inside someone’s shed.
Within hours after Yates was placed into the cell with Ruis, the two men began disagreeing over politics and religion, Ruis testified.
He told the jury he was trying not to kill Yates but to drive the devil out of him. He admitted pouring liquid soap in his mouth, stripping him naked and tying him up with scraps of his own clothing.
The defendant also testified that God told him he was allowed to treat Yates as others had treated him.