Murder trial ends in hung jury again
The second trial for accused murderer Patrick W. Deguair Jr. ended yesterday just like the first one.
A state judge declared a mistrial after the five men and seven women on the jury said they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict for second-degree murder, kidnapping and firearm charges after two days of deliberation.
Circuit Judge Glenn Kim scheduled a third trial with a new jury for June.
Deguair, 33, is charged with the March 27, 2008, abduction and murder of Jermain Duckworth.
Two witnesses testified they saw Deguair kill Duckworth. Deguair implicated one of the witnesses for the murder.
The state says Deguair shot Duckworth, 24, in the back of the head and then pushed his body off a cliff near Yokohama Bay beach for squealing on him to police about a 2007 armed home-invasion robbery in which they were both suspects.
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Deguair is awaiting trial in that case and for a robbery at Aiea Cue eight days after Duckworth’s killing.
Prosecutors have also identified Deguair as a suspect in a Dec. 20, 2002, slaying at Kahe Point Beach Park, where Michael R. Scheidt died from a gunshot wound to his chest.
Former city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle told Scheidt’s father in a letter that the state has not charged Deguair with the 2002 murder because it has no credible witness willing to testify.