Jury fails to reach verdict in case of Ohio highway shooter
By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Court TV) -- An Ohio jury could not reach a verdict over the weekend in the trial of Charles McCoy Jr., whose lawyers said his mental illness prevented him from understanding right and wrong in 12 shootings that terrorized the greater Columbus area.
Two women in the jury box dabbed at tears as Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Schneider declared a mistrial Mother's Day afternoon after 29 hours of sequestered deliberations over five days.
McCoy, 29, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to 24 charges stemming from 12 sniper-style shootings between October 2003 and February 2004 which left one person dead. McCoy was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1996, and even prosecutors acknowledged the severity of his mental illness, in which he claimed to hear voices and believed cameras were watching him.
The defendant's parents, Chuck Sr. and Ardith McCoy, remained stoic as the judge rendered the outcome to the sparse audience absent of any shooting victims.
The parents, who testified for both sides and gave police the 9 mm Beretta used in the attacks, thanked the jury for its efforts.
"We're thinking of our son as well as the Knisley family," Chuck Sr. said in a brief statement outside the courtroom.
Among the charges, the defendant faced the death penalty for the fatal shooting of 62-year-old Gail Knisley with the aggravating circumstance of committing the act in accordance with a plan to kill others.
"We've been in serious debate over the affirmative defense of not guilty by reason of insanity," the panel said in its first note to Schneider. "We have been unable to come to a decision and there is no indication at this time that this will change."
After discharging the jury and thanking them for their work, Schneider "encouraged" the panel not to speak with the media, citing the necessity of finding a second jury for a potential retrial.
Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Ron O'Brien said he was not disappointed with the verdict and planned to try McCoy again, although he indicated that he might not seek the death penalty a second time.
"I don't think we can be disappointed when we presented the strongest case we have and feel the jury gave it serious consideration," he said.
"We did not have the evidence from the psychiatrists until January of this year. Now that we have the benefit of that knowledge, we will factor that into the equation when we consider the death specifications," he said.
Schneider scheduled a status conference with the lawyers for Tuesday to discuss the charges, venue change or potential pleas.
McCoy's lawyer, Michael Miller, said he would consider a plea deal provided it involved getting his client the medical attention he felt he deserved.
"I honestly feel with every fiber of my being that the right verdict was not guilty by reason of insanity," he said. "This is a tragedy for everyone. Charles didn't ask for this illness and Mrs. Knisley didn't ask to be killed."
Psychiatrists for both sides agreed he suffered auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusions that McCoy felt could only be silenced by carrying out the shootings.
They also agreed his medical history reflected a predilection toward "cheeking" his medication, or pretending to take it.
But where McCoy's lawyers called witnesses to bolster their contention that his psychosis rendered him unable to reason, prosecutors called their own forensic psychiatrist and police experts to support their belief that McCoy carried out "a planned course of conduct" that reflected premeditation and intent to kill.
McCoy will be held in Franklin County Jail pending further actions.
