A Circuit Court jury deliberated a second full day without reaching a verdict in State Department special agent Christopher Deedy’s murder trial.

The panel returns to court this morning for more deliberations.

Deedy, 29, who was here for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, is charged with murder in the shooting of Kollin Elderts, 23, of Kailua, early Nov. 5, 2011, at the McDonald’s restaurant on Kuhio Avenue.

The eight men and four women deliberated for about three hours Thursday after listening to closing arguments.

The jurors resumed deliberations Monday after the three-day Statehood Day weekend.

They returned to court Tuesday at about 9 a.m. and left the courthouse at about 4 p.m.

The prosecution contends Deedy instigated a deadly confrontation and shot the unarmed Elderts in the chest. Deedy’s lawyers maintain that Elderts was the aggressor and that Deedy shot him in self-defense.

The jury is faced with either acquitting Deedy or convicting him of murder. The second-degree murder charge carries a mandatory life term with parole.

The jury does not have the option of returning a guilty verdict on the lesser offense of manslaughter, which carries a maximum 20-year term.

The trial included 20 days of testimony spanning five weeks in Circuit Judge Karen Ahn’s courtroom.