WILMINGTON - One member of the grand jury that declined to charge former deputy Christopher Long with second-degree murder Monday is married to another deputy with the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office.

Malinda Murphy, the wife of detective Kenneth West Murphy, cast a vote Monday along with 13 others, said one grand jury member and Sheriff Sid Causey.

District Attorney Ben David has said that Long, a deputy who lost his job Friday, fired the shots that killed Durham native Peyton Strickland after mistaking the sound of officers trying to break down Strickland's door for the blast of a gun Dec. 1. In what authorities considered a "high-risk" raid, 16 officers were sent to Strickland's rented house to recover a stolen Sony PlayStation 3 video game console and arrest him on charges of robbing and beating a UNC-Wilmington college student last month, Causey and a UNC-W official said.

Long was indicted Monday on a second-degree murder charge, but grand jury foreman John K. Hatton admitted Tuesday that he had checked the wrong box. The grand jury fell at least seven votes shy of the 12 needed to indict Long, juror Sharika Hankins said Tuesday night.

Hankins couldn't recall how Murphy had voted. Murphy did not return a message left at her home Wednesday, and her husband said he hadn't discussed the vote with her. "I would have hoped she would have recused herself," Causey said. "If I'd known, I would have asked her."

Causey also said that he is not considering rehiring Long, despite the grand jury's decision not to indict him.

Kenneth Murphy, who investigates "cold cases," has been with the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office since 1999. He and Long don't work side by side, but Causey said their paths would have crossed many times over the past seven years.

After confirming Malinda Murphy's grand jury involvement with her husband Wednesday, Causey alerted David. The district attorney didn't return a call for comment.

Superior Court Judge Ernest Fullwood, who oversees the grand jury panels, refused to meet with a reporter to hear about Malinda Murphy's relationship to the Sheriff's Office. It is unclear how that could affect a potential criminal case against Long.

Malinda Murphy has served on the grand jury since July. She has often excused herself when the case requires testimony from her husband, Hankins and Causey said. Grand jurors are sworn to "present no one for envy, hatred or malice; neither shall you leave anyone unpresented for fear, favor or affection, reward or the hope of reward."

(News researcher Brooke Cain contributed to this report.)