EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS STORY WILL CONTINUE TO BE UPDATED AS WE RECEIVE NEW INFORMATION
Monday, closing arguments were made in the trial of a 16-year-old facing first-degree murder for the death of Timothy Reynolds.
On Tuesday, deliberations continued and there are signs they're not close to reaching a verdict.
They ended up asking the judge to explain the rules of a mistrial.
If they can’t come to an agreement, they will declare a mistrial and the state will decide if they want to retry the case. A retrial will likely come sometime next year.
It happened in July of 2022 after an altercation with a squeegee worker.
During closing arguments, both the prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed if Reynolds never got out of his car with a bat he would probably still be alive.
Last July, the altercation at Conway and Light Streets between Reynolds and a group of teenagers squeegeeing turned violent. Reynolds was shot five times. He was killed and the 14-year-old at the time, who’s now facing first-degree murder, was charged with his death.
The defense argued this was a case of either perfect or imperfect self-defense. They say the evidence shows Reynolds was shot after he swung the bat and that the teen was likely defending himself or his friends.
Defense attorneys Warren Brown and J.W. Gordon said prosecutors failed to present the jury with all of the possible evidence in this case. They argued they should have called up more eyewitnesses but instead, they called two out of the eight or nine originally planned.
They also believe the actual bat that was evidence should have been physically shown in court for the jury to see for themselves unlike the photograph that was presented.
“They have given this jury a horrendous responsibility of deciding whether this 14, 15, 16-year-old kid spends the rest of his life in prison. Give the jury everything they need before they have to make that decision because it’s a decision they’re going to have to live with for the rest of their lives,” Brown said.
Prosecutors and supporters of Reynolds believe this was premeditated murder and they want the 16-year-old to be convicted as such.
Prosecutors argued the teen fired multiple shots, some of which struck Reynolds in the back, indicating he was walking away at the time he was killed.
“The family is hopeful and confident that the evidence presented the law that is so clear about what it is and what is not self-defense will lead a jury to do justice in this case,” Thiru Vignarajah said.
19 witnesses were called to testify at trial for the prosecution. This included a firearms examiner and DNA analysis expert.
