ST. LOUIS (AP) - A St. Louis judge has declared a hung jury after two days of deliberations in the trial of a man charged with killing a burglary witness.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/TNGYKz ) reports that Rico Paul was held for retrial after Friday's mistrial ruling. Paul is charged with first-degree murder in the May 2011 killing of Paul Reiter.
The 58-year-old was the circulation manager for the St. Louis American newspaper. He was shot dead before completing a 911 call, ostensibly to report seeing a burglar next door to his home. Eyewitnesses identified Paul as Reiter's killer. But the defense presented two alibi witnesses and claimed police forced Paul to confess.
Paul also faces 20 counts of burglary and theft in a string of other crimes in the neighborhood.