Following nearly two days of deliberations, the judge in the second-degree murder trial of Christopher Gale has declared a mistrial.
The jury had been deliberating since around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, taking meal breaks and coming back to the judge with questions several times.
Then around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Justice Andrew Goodman read a note from the jury saying they had reached a stale-mate and could not come to a unanimous decision.
But Goodman sent the jury back with instructions to keep an open mind and consider the views of their fellow jurors, saying “I ask you to please try once again to reach a verdict.”
However, shortly before 8 p.m. a mistrial was declared because, according to the judge, one of the jury members "did not uphold their oath."
Gale, 31, pleaded not guilty in the 2010 shooting death of his then girlfriend 21-year-old Jocelyn Bishop.
During the two-and-a-half week trial the defence argued that Bishop killed herself at the home she shared with Gale before he buried her in their backyard.
But the Crown argued that it was Gale who shot Bishop before burying her at their Fanshawe Park Road home.
A mistrial means that the entire court proceeding will need to start again.
