A mistrial was declared late Thursday afternoon (Sept. 14, 2017) in a major fraud case against Little Rock businessmen Ross Alan Hope and Mikel Kullander, after a federal jury announced it was hopelessly deadlocked on the charges.
The jury had deliberated half a day Wednesday and all day Thursday. Its foreman told U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes about 2 p.m. Thursday that the panelists couldn’t agree on a unanimous verdict, and Holmes encouraged the group of 12 to return to the deliberations room and keep trying.
But three hours later, jurors announced that they still didn’t have a consensus and didn’t see the situation changing.
In keeping with the rules of federal court, the jury was prevented from telling Holmes which and how many charges they could and couldn’t agree on, and how many jurors favored conviction or acquittal.
Keep reading this article at: http://m.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/sep/15/u-s-fraud-case-ends-in-mistrial-for-2-m/
UPDATE: A retrial of Little Rock businessmen Ross Alan Hope and Mikel Kullander is now set for Oct. 16. See: http://m.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/sep/16/federal-retrial-set-in-disabled-vet-cas-1/
