YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - Anthony Gregory Mallory’s murder trial has ended in a mistrial, and prosecutors are preparing to take the case to court again.
Yakima County Superior Court Judge Gayle Harthcock declared the case a mistrial Tuesday after investigating reports that a juror had brought information obtained from outside the trial into jury deliberations, which began Monday afternoon, Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic said.
Jurors are only allowed to use what they heard and saw in court in deliberations, and are prohibited from doing their own investigation and research on the case or the law, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported. Harthcock gave jurors this warning every day of the trial.
Mallory, 21, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Michael Ochoa in August 2018. He’s accused of stabbing Ochoa, a 55-year-old handyman, in the neck in 2018. Ochoa was in the area looking for a trailer he had loaned to a family that had been evicted.
Brusic declined to discuss what happened with the jury, noting he did not want to jeopardize the ability to seat an impartial jury in the second trial.
“We are aggressively going to pursue the case, as we have done,” Brusic said. “We are moving in that direction.”
Kenneth Therrien, Mallory’s attorney, said his client was disappointed, as he wanted to have the case resolved, but he anticipates it will be rescheduled. He said the courts are working through a backlog of cases due to the pandemic, which could affect when a retrial takes place.
Therrien said having a juror ignore the court’s instructions is a “rare occurrence,” but said it demonstrates why the rules are in place to ensure a fair trial.
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