Harris Jury Ordered to Continue Deliberating

The jury announced yesterday it was deadlocked for a second time in the third Cal Harris murder trial. After a full day of deliberations, the jury announced it was still deadlocked at 5 p.m. In their note to the judge, jurors said they feel any further deliberations would be “fruitless”. Schoharie County Judge George Bartlett said he would decide this morning whether to re-read the Allen Charge to jurors and have them continue deliberating, or to declare a mistrial, due to a hung-jury, and let jurors go. During legal arguments Monday, Bartlett indicated he wanted the jury to keep trying to reach a verdict– but he wouldn’t make a decision until today. The defense asked Bartlett to declare a mistrial on grounds that asking the jury to continue deliberating would be “coercive”. The prosecution disagreed. It said given the length of this trial, it’s expected the jury will take a while deliberating. The jury first declared it was deadlocked last Tuesday.