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Jury Deadlocked For a Third Time in Cal Harris Trial
By Beth Rousseau.
For the third time, jurors in the trial of cal Harris inform the court that they are deadlocked after 11 days of deliberation.
This is the third trial for the town of Spencer man charged with the death of the of his wife Michele in September 2001.
Right around 4:30 Thursday afternoon jurors sent a note saying that after extensive discussion they have still not been able to reach a decision and that further deliberations will not yield a unanimous verdict.
At the bottom of the note however, it was noted that not all of the jurors agree with that statement.
Jurors were then released for the day so that judge George Bartlett and they attorneys could discuss how they should proceed.
District attorney Kirk Marin told the judge that he's not opposed to polling jurors to see how many feel that it is not possible to reach a verdict.
While defense Bruce Barket argues that polling would be counter productive and that the case should be ended and declared a mistrial.
Earlier this week after jurors sent out the second note saying they were deadlocked judge Bartlett Allen charged them asking that they continue their deliberations with open minds trying to reach a unanimous verdict.
Judge Bartlett and the attorneys will return to the courtroom Friday morning at 11 to decide the best course of action and then the jurors will be informed of that decision when they arrive in the courtroom Friday at noon.