Brandon Chase's murder trial ended Thursday in a mistrial, with a hung jury.
Jurors told Circuit Judge Dan Green they couldn't decide his fate, and Green declared a mistrial "based on the fact that the jury appears unable to reach a unanimous conclusion."
No details were announced about what issues blocked the jury's reaching a verdict.
Both Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson and Public Defender Jan King declined to comment afterward, noting the case isn't finished.
Green released Chase on his own recognizance, but ordered him to return to court on March 27 for a hearing on the next step in this case, as well as a hearing on a probation violation complaint that's been on-hold pending the outcome of the murder trial.
Chase was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and armed criminal action, all stemming from the April 22 killing of Keith Mosely, 34, Columbia, a drug dealer who, prosecutors argued, had been convinced to come to Jefferson City to sell high-grade marijuana to Chase.
Prosecutors said Mosely was killed during a robbery attempt that Chase had designed.
During his testimony Wednesday, Chase denied having anything to do with Mosely's coming to Jefferson City or being willing to sell marijuana.
Chase had to be convicted of the robbery charge in order to be convicted of the murder.
Both are Class A felonies, with a possible punishment of from 10 to 30 years in prison, or life.
Two other men also were indicted last April 25 by a Cole County grand jury.
Tracy Session pleaded guilty last November, and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Khiry Summers' trial is set for July.
Story posted at 11:58 a.m.
Brandon Chase's future now is in the jury's hands - and a half-hour after getting the case, they asked to see some of the photographs used as evidence.
Ten of those pictures were sent to the six-man, six-woman jury.
Chase, now 29, testified Wednesday he had no plans to rob Keith Mosely - and was trying to warn Mosely that others might be trying to rob him when Mosely was killed last April 22.
But Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson told jurors in his closing argument that Chase planned the robbery and, therefore, is guilty of the murder that occurred during it.
Richardson and Public Defender Jan King agreed the statements of other witnesses were a major factor in the jury's deliberations.
"People come in and they make statements," Richardson told the jury in his closing argument. "You will find that those statements (in this case) are consistent."
But King countered: "The problem we've got here is a whole bunch of inferences, not facts.
"Everything is built on what people said - not what they did."
Chase is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and armed criminal action.
He must be convicted of the robbery charge in order to be convicted of the murder.
Both are Class A felonies, with a possible punishment of from 10 to 30 years in prison, or life.
Two other men also were indicted last April 25 by a Cole County grand jury.
Tracy Session pleaded guilty last November, and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Khiry Summers' trial is set for July.