The jury in the murder trial of Eric Thompson could not reach a unanimous verdict this afternoon, so Circuit Judge Paul Wong declared a mistrial and scheduled a new trial for Oct. 16.

Thompson was accused of murder in Jan. 12, 2022, shooting of his wife’s former lover — acupuncturist Jon Tokuhara, who helped the couple with infertility problems and conceive a child.

The jury deliberated for three full days, resulting in a hung jury on the charges of second-degree murder and carrying or use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony.

The 47-year-old’s lifeless body was found on Jan. 13, 2022 by his mother in a pool of blood on the floor of his Waipahu acupuncture and healthcare clinic on Waipahu Depot Street. He was shot from a distance four times in the face and head with a .22-caliber firearm.

Police never found the murder weapon, but they recovered two .22-caliber rifles at the 36-year-old’s home in Wailupe and boxes of .22-caliber amunition.

Deputy prosecutor Benjamin Rose told jurors that 11 days before Tokuhara’s murder, Thompson made his wife, Joyce, sign a post-marital agreement relinquishing custody of their 3-year-old daughter should they divorce.

Tokuhara’s phone revealed the 5,610 Instagram direct messages between him and Joyce Thompson, and that her husband, Eric, had learned of the affair.

The prosecution pieced together video surveillance footage from businesses near the area of Tokuhara’s office and Thompson’s neighbor’s home. The surveillance cameras caught a man wearing a bucket hat, face mask, carrying a large brown paper bag walking into the clinic and out in 48 seconds. The hat fell off and was later recovered with DNA linking Thompson to the hat.

A white four-door Chevrolet Silverado work truck was seen leaving the area of the clinic at about the time the suspect wearing the bucket hat was seen leaving the scene of the crime. The truck had a running board, like the truck Thompson owned and drove that same night.

Thompson’s alibi was that at the time of Tokuhara’s murder, he went to the Waimanalo convenience center to dump bags of bricks, then to to buy a few items. But surveillance video showed Thompson’s truck bed was empty when he left his house.

Defense attorney David Hayakawa accused police of failing to rule out other potential suspects, including any one of a number of Tokuhara’s ex-girlfriends’ husbands or boyfriends.

He alleged surveillance footage was questionable, shoddy police work in recovering DNA from a hat and prosecutors built their case on cherry-picked evidence.