After two days of deliberations, a jury deadlocks in a 2021 Peoria murder trial
PEORIA — After 10 hours of deliberations, a Peoria County jury told a judge it couldn't reach a decision on whether a man acted in self-defense when he shot another person last summer.
Jurors told Circuit Judge Kevin Lyons shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday that they were deadlocked after discussing the case of Orlando Alexander Sr. over a two-day period. After four more hours, the judge declared a mistrial.
This means that prosecutors will have to retry the case before another jury or let it go. A decision on what would happen next wasn't immediately available. A review hearing was set for late August.
More: Did Peoria man act in self-defense in summer fatal shooting? It's up to the jury now
At 8:08 p.m. Sept 3, 2021, police responded to a report of shots fired in the 800 block of Northeast Jefferson Street. Police located Isaac Payton lying in a grassy area on Wayne Street, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
It wasn't at issue who fired the fatal shots – Alexander admitted he shot several times. Police found six shell casings, and the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system picked up the six shots.
What the jury had to decide was whether Alexander was justified in his claim that he acted in self-defense. If yes, then he was not guilty. If not, then he was guilty of murder.
Christopher McCall, Alexander's attorney, said his client was trying to defuse a situation involving his son and Payton stemming from an incident earlier in the day. He first tried to disarm Payton, the attorney told jurors, but fired after he felt his life was threatened.
Prosecutors, however, saw it differently. Assistant State's Attorneys Larry Evans and Jennie Cordis-Boswell argued that Payton was running away from Alexander, who then shot him from behind.
They used autopsy findings that found three gunshot wounds on the rear of his body as proof that Payton wasn't the aggressor.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Orlando Alexander Sr. case ends up as a mistrial after jury deadlocked
