Jury in Michael Black case could not reach a verdict. At 3:15 jurors were polled individually. The jury tried 6 times to reach a verdict. Judge Kaleb Cockrum declared a mistrial.
The split does not indicate which way the jurors voted but the first time it was 7-5; the last time 9-3.
Only three female jurors waited to talk to the attorneys. While it was not stated in court; comments made in the hallway as jurors were talking indicated that the not guilty votes were 9. Juror #11, a female juror was the foreperson.
Deputy District Attorney A.J. Kamada said the People are going to refile charges. Jury trial is set on a not time waived basis. Black already pleaded guilty to one felony in another case. Sentencing for that case is set on the same day as trial confirmation for this case; February 20.
Court record lists all three counts for this jury trial but Black has already pleaded guilty to the two vandalism charges.
Ms. Andrea Sullivan will be filing a 17 (b) motion which is a motion to reduce the felony charge to a misdemeanor.
Charges:
Seems very unlikely that the DA is going to retry 9-3 split, especially when the split started at 7-5.
ReplyDeleteDoug, I hope not. I was surprised that the Deputy DA decided to definitively state that without talking to the alleged victim or his boss, Ms. Fleming. Black already pleaded guilty to a felony charge. Resources and time could be put towards taking other cases to trial.
DeleteIt's always something with Clanton
ReplyDelete