A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the case of Sheldon 鈥淭imothy鈥� Herrington Jr. in the 2022 killing of , a gay man who was prominent in the LGBTQ+ community at the University of Mississippi.
Jurors said they were unable to reach a verdict after over nine and a half hours of deliberation.
Lee鈥檚 body has , but a judge declared him dead.
, 24, showed little emotion as he left the courtroom with his attorneys and several relatives. He remains free on bond and is still charged with capital murder, which Mississippi law defines as a killing committed along with another felony 鈥� in this case, kidnapping. Prosecutors had said they would not seek the death penalty. He faces life in prison if he is tried again and convicted.
Jurors on Wednesday were told they could also consider lesser charges of first-degree murder, punishable by life in prison; second-degree murder, 20 years to life; or manslaughter, up to 20 years.
Circuit Judge Kelly Luther said he will consult with prosecutors and defense attorneys about setting another trial.
Both Herrington and Lee had graduated from the University of Mississippi. Lee, 20, was pursuing a master鈥檚 degree. He was known for his creative expression through fashion and makeup and often performed in drag shows in Oxford, according to a support group called Justice for Jay Lee.
Lee disappeared July 8, 2022, in Oxford, where the university is located and the trial was held.
Police arrested Herrington two weeks after Lee vanished. Investigators testified that they used warrants to obtain electronic records including explicit messages between social media accounts belonging to the two men and online searches conducted by Herrington, including one inquiring how long it takes to strangle someone.
Prosecutors said during closing arguments Wednesday that Herrington and Lee had a sexual encounter that ended badly and Lee left Herrington鈥檚 apartment. They said showed that Herrington, who was not openly gay, persuaded Lee to return with the promise of more sex. Prosecutors said Lee was killed after going back.
鈥淭im Herrington lived a lie 鈥� lived a lie to his family,鈥� District Attorney Ben Creekmore said. 鈥淗e lied to Jay Lee to coax him over there, promising to do something with him.鈥�
Herrington鈥檚 attorney, Kevin Horan, has said prosecutors cannot prove Lee is dead . He told jurors Wednesday that text messages showed Herrington did not lure Lee to his apartment.
鈥淗e鈥檚 the one that鈥檚 being dominant anchoring this particular conversation,鈥� Horan said of Lee.
Lee, 20, has not contacted friends or family, and his financial transactions and once-prolific social media posts have stopped since , investigators testified.
Police arrested Herrington two weeks after Lee went missing. Authorities interviewed Herington twice that day, and he gave conflicting information about the hours before Lee vanished, Oxford Police Chief Jeff McCutchen testified Tuesday.
Before officers interviewed Herrington, they had already obtained explicit messages exchanged between social media accounts belonging to Herrington and Lee during the final hours Lee was known to be alive, McCutchen said.
Google records obtained through a warrant showed that Herrington searched 鈥渉ow long does it take to strangle someone鈥� at 5:56 a.m., University Police Department Sgt. Benjamin Douglas testified last week.
The final text message from Lee鈥檚 phone was sent to a social media account belonging to Herrington at 6:03 a.m. from a spot near Herrington鈥檚 apartment, McCutchen said Tuesday. A cellphone tower in another part of Oxford last located any signal from Lee鈥檚 phone shortly before 7:30 a.m., the police chief said. A security camera showed Herrington moments later jogging out of a parking lot where Lee鈥檚 car was abandoned, investigators testified earlier.
On the day Lee vanished, Herrington was also seen on security cameras buying duct tape in Oxford and driving to his own hometown of Grenada about an hour south of Oxford, police have testified.
Herrington's relatives sat behind him in the courtroom, and Lee's sat behind prosecutors. When Luther dismissed court after the mistrial, he instructed the two groups to leave separately.
Jurors were chosen from another county about 250 miles (402 kilometers) to the south. They heard eight days of arguments and testimony.
The judge twice urged jurors to continue deliberating when they said they were deadlocked. After the third such message, Luther declared the mistrial and thanked them for serving, adding: 鈥淚鈥檝e asked a lot of you."
Emily Wagster Pettus, The Associated Press
