‘We cannot agree.’ Judge sends back deadlocked jurors to continue deliberating in former cold case murder trial
The latest jury notes could signal to a possible mistrial, but the judge is asking the jury to keep deliberating.
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Jurors are now deadlocked in the case against Edward Holley, an Orange County man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend 22 years ago.
The latest jury notes could signal to a possible mistrial, but the judge is asking the jury to keep deliberating.
One of the jury’s note read:
“Judge Kim, unfortunately after hours of deliberating we are at an impasse. We cannot agree on a verdict and we cannot see that as changing.”
The jury sent three notes to the court on the fourth full day of deliberations in the trial, two of them indicating that they were deadlocked.
Holley, who’s from Wawayanda, is accused of bludgeoning his 21-year-old ex-girlfriend, Megan McDonald, in 2003 in the town of Wallkill and then dumping her body in a field. He was charged by state police with second degree murder in 2023.
They also asked for crime scene photos, phone logs and DNA evidence.
During the trial, two special prosecutors assigned to the case said Holley’s motive was jealousy, money and control – but no murder weapon was ever found, and Holley’s defense said his DNA on her phone and in her car was expected since they had a relationship.
The judge has issued an Allen charge mid-afternoon Monday– asking them to deliberate more before declaring a mistrial. At that point, it would be up to prosecutors to retry the case or drop the charges.
The jury sent a third note late-Monday asking for testimony from Eric Thurston, the brother of a deceased suspect, to be read back, along with several other items such as a read back of the judge’s Allen charge and a description of Edward Holley’s official criminal charge.
Stay with News 12 for the latest developments.
