After two days of deliberation, a jury in the Isabel Celis murder case failed to reach a unanimous verdict on Friday, leaving it deadlocked on the murder charges against Christopher Clements in Tucson Superior Court. Requested a miscarriage of justice after 4:00 p.m.
Eleven years after Isabel’s disappearance, the city of southern Arizona is shaken. Clements faced a jury at trial on multiple charges related to her death. The charges against Clements, 41, included first-degree murder, kidnapping of a minor under the age of 15, and robbery.
Judge James Marner, who oversaw the three-week trial, said he received a letter from the jurors saying they were still stuck on the first count. He asked if it would take more time to break the deadlock.
A meeting was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on March 27 to discuss whether the state might revisit the case and set a new trial date. They also have other charges against Clements, including charges of making or possessing a weapon (in this case, a sharpened pencil) in connection with the Feb. 7 incident, according to information provided by the Pima County Superior Court on Tuesday. We plan to deal with
A new trial date has been ordered and a new juror must be selected to decide the matter, according to a press release from the Pima County Attorney’s Office.
“Our thoughts tonight are with Celis and Gonzales’ families,” the press release said.
Eric Kessler, one of the defense attorneys, said he was not surprised by the outcome of the trial because jurors asked questions during the trial. Many of these questions were about the quality of the evidence presented, as well as questions about Isabel’s father, Sergio Celis, and his “possible collusion”.
“We will move forward as directed by the judge,” Kessler said of the possible retrial announced by the county attorney’s office.
Isabel disappeared from her bedroom overnight in April 2012. Five years later, Clements took authorities to the remote desert area of ​​Marana, north of Tucson, where the bones were later found to be those of a young girl.
the lawyer had gave closing remarks to the jury on Wednesday.
In an earlier trial, which ended on September 30, Clements Convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping The case of 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez, who went missing while walking to a friend’s house in Tucson one evening in June 2014.
Her body was found near West Avra ​​Road and Toriko Road. Clements is sentenced to life in prison and is ineligible for parole. In addition, she was sentenced to 17 years in prison and sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping a teenage victim.
Clements was serving a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison for a Maricopa County robbery in 2017, according to the Associated Press.
Southern Arizona coverage on azcentral.com and The Arizona Republic is funded by Report for America, a nonprofit affiliated with The Republic.
Please contact the reporter at sarah.lapidus@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared in the Republic of Arizona. Jury stalls in Isabel Sellis murder case in Tucson.misjudgment called
