No verdict in death of 13-year-old
Published: Sat, Nov. 08, 2008 12:30AM
Modified Sat, Nov. 08, 2008 01:25AM
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closeRALEIGH -- After three and a half days of deliberation, a jury still has not delivered a verdict for two men accused of murdering a 13-year-old girl.
Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour sent the 12 men and women home Friday afternoon with instructions not to discuss the case over the weekend.
Baddour told the jury to resume deliberations Monday morning.
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Lawyers from both sides, as well as the victim's mother, looked spent Friday afternoon after waiting for days for a verdict. None of the lawyers would comment on the case.
Rashaan Ali and Ian Wattley are charged with first-degree murder of Gelnirys Ortega, who is also known in court documents as Gelnirys Herrera.
Gelnirys was killed May 1, 2007, when people invaded the apartment where she lived, looking for Jesus Barrera, who owed them money. There was a struggle, and a gun was fired, shooting Gelnirys in the right eye as she sat on the couch, prosecutors contend.
In their closing arguments, defense attorneys said prosecutors did not do a sufficient job of putting their clients at the murder scene on Green Road in Raleigh.
If jurors do not find enough evidence to convict the men of first-degree murder, which carries a sentence of life in prison without parole, they could choose to find the men guilty of second-degree murder, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter, or not guilty.
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