Jurors deadlock in Wilmington jewelry store assault, heist. The case will be retried
A jury could not reach a verdict in the case of a man accused of assaulting another with a hammer during a Wilmington jewelry store heist.
After about two days of deliberation, a mistrial was declared as jurors were deadlocked in deciding the state's case against Calvin Ushery, a man accused by prosecutors of robbery, assault and other crimes tied to the September 2022 robbery of Solid Gold Jewelers on Ninth Street in downtown Wilmington.
A spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Justice said prosecutors intend to retry the case.
Surveillance video of the attack and robbery circulated shortly after the incident and was the first thing prosecutors showed the jury during opening statements before about three days of testimony last week.
The video begins with a man grabbing the owner of the store, who was 68 years old at the time of the robbery. The video shows the man striking the store owner with a pistol, leaving him on the ground. The robber then places jewelry in a bag, taking several minutes to gather items.
Periodically, the robber returned to the owner of the store and struck him again, including blows with a hammer, prosecutors said. After several minutes of gathering the store's inventory, the robber appears to use a cloth to wipe surfaces in the store. The intruder wore sunglasses and carried a black backpack.
The jewelry store owner spent four days in the intensive care unit following the attack.
Surveillance footage from nearby shows the man police believe to be the robber riding a bicycle away. Detectives found a bicycle they said matched in a later search of Ushery's apartment, according to prosecutors' opening statements to the jury last week.
Evidence presented to the jury by prosecutors included surveillance footage of a man they said was Ushery seeking to sell large amounts of jewelry in two local pawn shops a week after the heist.
Additionally, prosecutors said Ushery was arrested shortly after trying to sell jewelry to a woman at a local gas station. Items involved in that transaction were later identified as originating from the heist by a member of the family that owns the store, prosecutors told the jury in opening statements.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Mistrial for man accused of Wilmington jewelry store assault, heist
