AUBURN – Jurors deadlocked 8-4 Thursday, their third day of deliberating a manslaughter charge against Brandon Knight, who was charged with fatally shooting a friend.
Knight, 20, of Lewiston was accused of killing Shawn Fitzsimmons, who died of a single gunshot wound to his head on Sept. 11, 2004.
On Thursday, Androscoggin County Superior Court Justice Ellen Gorman asked if there was any chance the jury could resume its work and reach a verdict. Grim-faced jurors shook their heads no, and Gorman declared a mistrial.
Forewoman Ann-Marie Dion of Sabattus said the jury was unable to budge from a split of eight people voting not guilty and four voting guilty.
The divide had been there since the start of deliberations on Tuesday, she said.
Fernand LaRochelle, the assistant attorney general who prosecuted the case, said another trial is likely.
“We would have liked to have seen it resolved,” LaRochelle said, “but we know the jury worked conscientiously.”
Knight said he wished to apologize to the Fitzsimmons’ family. “I hope they forgive me,” he said after the mistrial was declared.
Danny and Lisa Fitzsimmons, Shawn’s parents, sat through the trial and remained at the courthouse as the jury did its work. He was their only child.
After the mistrial Thursday, they issued a statement of disappointment in the outcome of the trial and despair over their son’s death.
“The bullet (Knight) fired that September morning (that) killed our son has also killed his mother and father as we are now empty inside,” they wrote.
“Our following years will be empty without Shawn; there will be no grandson or granddaughter in our lives, no Christmas to look forward to, and though we will celebrate his life every December 4th, it will be with tears, not laughs.”
Their son was born Dec. 4, 1979.
The defense argued in the trial that Knight did not intend to harm Fitzsimmons.
The shooting occurred at a friend’s apartment on Horton Street in Lewiston, where Knight was shown a 9-mm Llama semiautomatic pistol. He later took it from a dresser drawer and, believing the bullet clip had been removed, aimed it at Fitzsimmons and pulled the trigger, Knight testified this week.
Fitzsimmons would have turned 26 on Sunday. His family said they’ll visit the cemetery where he’s buried to remember his life.
To reach a verdict of guilty or not guilty in a criminal case, a jury has to be unanimous. When a jury deadlocks, even by an 11-1 vote, it results in a mistrial. When that happens, the state can opt to retry the case, let it drop or seek a plea agreement on the same or another charge.
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