A day after a juror said she didn't agree with a manslaughter verdict against a man accused of killing a woman in her Davie home in 2014, a mistrial has been declared.
The Broward County jury had been ordered to return to the jury room on Wednesday to try to agree on the fate of Dayonte Resiles, who is accused of killing Jill Halliburton Su in 2014.
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But after the jury couldn't reach a unanimous decision, a mistrial was declared Wednesday by Broward Circuit Judge John J. Murphy.
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Murphy thanked the jurors for their service, shook their hands, and said a new jury would be picked for a retrial in January.
Jurors deliberated for four full days after the three-week trial, and sent questions to Murphy on Monday and Tuesday before signaling they had reached a verdict Tuesday night.
They were trying to decide between manslaughter — which could carry a maximum sentence of 30 years — or first-degree murder, which in the case of Resiles, 27, could result in the death penalty.
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Prosecutors said Su interrupted Resiles as he was burglarizing her home near Fort Lauderdale on Sept. 8, 2014. Evidence showed the 59-year-old woman was bound at the hands and feet, forced into a bathtub and stabbed about 25 times, according to court testimony.
Resiles pleaded not guilty. While DNA evidence placed Resiles at the scene, defense lawyers questioned whether the evidence was contaminated.
As is typical in a trial, the jurors were polled to say whether they agreed with the decision that was reached in the jury room. When the first juror was asked that question on Tuesday, she answered with a firm "No."
The judge then ordered the jury to continue deliberating. The victim's husband, Nan Yao Su, and her family and friends were left in shock as the jury quickly declared itself deadlocked.
Resiles also faces criminal charges from a 2016 escape attempt. Resiles unlocked his shackles and fled from a hearing at the courthouse, resulting in a six-day manhunt. After he was recaptured, he wrote the court insisting he fled because he is innocent.
Resiles' family and friends were thankful a guilty verdict didn't come down but said they still want him to be found not guilty.
“It doesn’t stop here, the fight doesn’t, it doesn’t stop here, the fight doesn’t end here," Shakynah Holliday said.
