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Judge sends split Cape Cod jury back to work

By John Springer
Court TV

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BARNSTABLE, Massachusetts (Court TV) -- Jurors are split over the guilt or innocence of Christopher McCowen, the garbage collector accused of raping and murdering fashion writer Christa Worthington in her Cape Cod home in 2002.

After more than 26 hours of deliberations over five days, the panel of seven women and five men notified Superior Court Judge Gary Nickerson that it was deadlocked and needed guidance.

"After weighing all of the evidence over the past five days, we the jury have come to the conclusion that we are deadlocked on coming to a decision on guilty or not guilty to any of the charges," jurors wrote.

McCowen's lawyer, Robert George, asked Nickerson to give the panel a so-called "dynamite" charge, an instruction that judges sometimes give deadlocked juries to get members to seriously consider the arguments made by other jurors during deliberations.

Nickerson sequestered the jury on Monday night.

"You aren't the first jury in the history of Massachusetts jurisprudence to report this type of situation to a court," Nickerson told the jurors.

Judge gives pep talk

He then gave them a sort of pep talk, saying they alone were in the best position to resolve the issues. There is no reason to believe that another jury could be more impartial or wise, or that a retrial would produce any better evidence for a different jury, the judge added.

"With this view, it is your duty to decide the case if you can conscientiously do so," Nickerson said, sending the jury back to resume deliberations.

One of the issues for the jury is whether two Massachusetts State Police detectives manipulated McCowen into incriminating himself during a six-hour interrogation on April 14, 2005.

Armed with a DNA analysis that linked McCowen's genetic profile to semen found inside Worthington's battered, semi-clad body, Troopers William Burke and Christopher Mason got McCowen to tell them that he was at Worthington's beach house when she was stabbed, But he denied being the killer.

Defense: Sex was consensual

The defense claimed during the month-long trial that McCowen had consensual sex with Worthington two days before the killing, and that he was confused when he talked to police.

McCowen has an IQ of 76 of 78, slightly above that of mentally retarded people, according to testimony.

Worthington, 46, lived with her toddler daughter, Ava, in a small house in North Truro, a small, quiet hamlet just south of the busy Cape Cod resort community of Provincetown.

The crime was discovered by Tim Arnold, a neighbor and former boyfriend who quickly became a suspect. Police also investigated Tony Jackett, a bay constable who fathered Ava despite being married to another woman for years.

Police interviewed McCowen several times between 2002 and 2005, and accepted his claim that he barely knew Worthington and had no relationship with her. That changed in April 2005, when the DNA analysis placed McCowen inside the house.

If the jury does hang, Nickerson would declare a mistrial. Prosecutors would then have to decide whether to retry McCowen.

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