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Jury says it’s deadlocked in NC officer’s trial

Judge ordered the jury to go back and do what it could to reach a unanimous verdict

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The latest on the trial of a white North Carolina police officer charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of an unarmed black man seeking help after a September 2013 car crash.

Jurors in the trial of a white police officer accused in the shooting death of an unarmed black man say they’re deadlocked after three votes, but the judge sent them back to continue deliberating

Judge Richard C. Ervin brought the jury back into the Mecklenburg County courtroom around noon Friday and asked the jury foreman where the votes stood.

The foreman said an initial vote taken was 7-5. The second vote, taken Thursday, was 8-4, and that was the same outcome when the jury voted again prior to entering the courtroom.

Defense attorney George Laughrun moved for a mistrial, but Ervin denied the request. Instead, Ervin ordered the jury to go back and do what it could to reach a unanimous verdict.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press