The jury hearing the case of a Detroit police officer accused of involuntary manslaughter for the death of a 7-year-old girl failed to reach a verdict on Tuesday, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial.
The jury sent a note to Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway saying little progress had been made during the three days of deliberations over the fate of Officer Joseph Weekley, who faced charges of felony involuntary manslaughter and careless discharge of a firearm causing death.
Hathaway asked the 12 jurors if any of them thought there was a chance they could reach a verdict, and only one juror responded yes.
"One out of twelve probably won't be enough," she said before declaring a mistrial and setting a new pretrial hearing date of July 25, 2013.
Weekley had admitted to accidentally firing his gun during a raid on May 16, 2010, killing Aiyana Stanley-Jones.
He testified that Aiyana's grandmother, Mertilla Jones, hit his weapon, causing it to fire. Jones denied Weekley's claims.
Jones said outside the courthouse, "She's going to get justice because I believe in the next jury."
Throughout the case, advocates for Aiyana's family criticized the makeup of the jury, which consisted of 11 whites and only one African-American.
"From the start, the Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee (JAJC) had no confidence in this jury that had only one African-American juror from a county that is over 42 percent African-American," the JAJC said in a statement following the hung jury.