Deliberations to continue for fourth day in Sheriff Victor Hill trial

ATLANTA - Wednesday will mark the fourth day of deliberations in the trial of suspended Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill.

Hill faces federal charges that he violated the constitutional rights of seven pre-trial detainees by having them held in restraint chairs for four hours--sometimes longer--during their time in the jail.

Deliberations have been tense. The jury got the case around lunchtime Friday. At one point the foreperson asked if the court could provide them with a dictionary, but the judge declined that request. At about 4:30 p.m. the jury asked Judge Eleanor Ross if they could go home because they were not close to reaching a verdict.

After deliberating most of the day Monday, the jury sent Judge Ross a note around 2:45 p.m. saying they had reached unanimous verdicts on two of the charges, but were "deadlocked" on the other five.

The judge issued what is known as an "Allen charge," urging them to keep working to come to a consensus and reexamine their opinions about the case.

Jurors returned Tuesday and learned they would have to start their deliberations over. Judge Ross dismissed one juror who could not continue and replaced her with an alternate.

The defense asked that the verdict form they had been working on be sealed in an envelope and preserved.

After just two hours of deliberations Tuesday, the foreperson sent another note to the judge asking what they should do if just one juror was causing problems, saying he was having trouble remembering his own statements and was not able to answer yes or no questions from other jurors.

Judge Ross brought the foreperson and the juror into the courtroom one at a time to question them. While the foreperson said the juror "refuse[d] to listen to anyone else's point of view," he maintained that he was engaging in deliberations with his fellow jurors.

The jury continued to work most of the afternoon, but sent the judge yet another note a little after 4 P.M. that explained the juror in question continued to pose problems by misremembering testimony and questioning his own notes from the trial.

Judge Ross sent the jury home for the day and asked them to return Wednesday morning. She called the situation "unusual" and said that if the jury was not able to reach a verdict after a fourth day of deliberations that she was likely to declare a mistrial.

The defense has asked the judge multiple times to accept the verdicts on the two counts jurors were able to decide and mistrial the other five, but she has declined. Judge Ross also questioned whether the jury still agreed on those two counts after the alternate joined the deliberations.