Anderson jury again says it can't reach verdict

Thursday, July 19, 2007

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

GASTONIA -- For the second time this week, jurors in the Jerry Anderson murder trial Thursday told the judge that they are deadlocked and cannot return a verdict.

The foreperson told Judge David Cayer that the jury has been unable to reach a unanimous decision and that the spilt between jurors was 10 to two. Cayer told jurors that he did not want to know whether the majority was hoping to return a guilty or a not guilty verdict.

Juror opinions, the foreperson told Cayer, have fluctuated since deliberations began six days ago, but the jurors tend to return to their original stance on whether Anderson should be found guilty of killing his wife, Emily.

"You have not been able to agree upon a verdict," Cayer told the jury, "(but) as reasonable men and women, you should try to reconcile your differences as you can."

Jury compensation has cost the state more than $17,000 since the trial began June 8.

Jerry Anderson, 48, faces first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of his wife and could face the death penalty.

Emily Anderson disappeared from her husband's dairy farm Dec. 29, 2005. Ten days later, her Chevrolet Silverado pickup was found 100 miles away in an S.C. parking lot. She had been shot twice and her body crammed into the truck bed's large toolbox.

Cayer has told jurors that they can find Anderson guilty or not guilty only of first-degree murder, not a lesser charge.

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