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Second mistrial declared in police shooting of Cincinnati man

Second mistrial declared in police shooting of Cincinnati man
Posted at 2:31 PM, Jun 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-23 14:37:28-04

CINCINNATI -- The Ray Tensing murder retrial ended in a hung jury for the second time.

Jury deliberations lasted for five full days, spanning nearly 30 hours.

Around 2:15 p.m., jurors said they were "evenly split" and unable to reach a verdict; we don't know the exact split of the jurors.

BELOW: Watch WCPO's live coverage of the Tensing trial aftermath

 

At 10:30 a.m. Friday, jurors told Judge Leslie Ghiz they were deadlocked. She sent them back to the jury room to deliberate further.

A grand jury indicted Tensing in 2015 on charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter.

In his first trial, jurors were evenly split: Four jurors thought Tensing was guilty of murder, four thought he was guilty of voluntary manslaughter and four thought Tensing was not guilty, according to Prosecutor Joe Deters.

The prosecution filed a motion to add reckless homicide -- a lesser charge -- to the two-count indictment.

Jurors may have asked the judge questions throughout deliberations, but not in open court. Ghiz's court reporter said Ghiz sealed the records of any questions asked by jurors. They may be available after the conclusion of the trial.

With small exceptions, including one conspicuous alteration to Tensing's story -- that DuBose had pinned his arm inside the car and then accelerated, forcing him to shoot to protect himself -- the retrial called the same experts, told the same stories and made the same arguments as the first.

DuBose's killing was one in a series of high-profile, officer-involved shootings that sparked nationwide protests over the use of force by police.

Tensing, who is white, was fired from his job and arrested after the shooting. Tensing faced trial a second time after a jury could not come to agreement in November and the judge declared a mistrial.

More on this as it develops.