BATESVILLE, Miss. — A Mississippi judge declared a second mistrial on Monday in the capital murder case of a man accused of setting a woman on fire in 2014. Deadlocked jurors said they couldn’t reach a verdict. Panola County Circuit Judge Gerald Chatham declared the mistrial Monday in the trial of Quinton Tellis, after jurors deliberated for two days.
FILE – In this Oct. 16, 2017 photo, Quinton Tellis sits during his trial in Batesville, Miss. A second trial is set to begin Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018 on charges that Tellis set Jessica Chambers on fire, leading to her death. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, Pool, File)
It’s the second mistrial; a jury also was unable to reach a verdict in Tellis’ first trial last year. Tellis was accused of setting Jessica Chambers ablaze.
Chambers, 19, was found badly burned next to her torched car along a road in Courtland, Mississippi, about 70 miles south of Memphis, on Dec. 6, 2014. She died hours later at a hospital.
As in the first trial, jurors had to choose between evidence that prosecutors said linked Tellis to Chambers’ death and testimony by emergency workers that they heard a dying Chambers say someone named Eric attacked her. Prosecutors tried to deflect that testimony with a speech pathologist who said Chambers was burned too badly to speak clearly.
First responders who testified described a ghastly scene and said Chambers was burned to the point she was unrecognizable, reports CBS affiliate WREG. EMT Bradley Dixon testified it was difficult to tell what Chambers was saying as responders repeatedly asked who did this to her.
“It was Erik or Derek or something to that effect,” said another first responder, Josh Perkins.
Tellis is facing another murder indictment in Louisiana in the 2015 death of Meing-Chen Hsiao, a 34-year-old Taiwanese graduate student at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. That indictment alleges that Tellis probably stabbed Hsiao more than 30 times in her face and body to get her to reveal her debit card’s PIN number before killing her on July 29, 2015.
Source: CBS News
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That bastard killed this girl. Look at that smirk on his face. I hope he gets convicted for killing the other girl. He deserves to rot in hell or be put to death. He is a piece of shit.
I don’t think he did it and hopefully they don’t retry him. But if they do hopefully the defense hire some experts to dispute the prosecutions experts. They have no evidence at all.
hes not guilty because you’re black as well?
another black man doing what they do. lmao. hope they hang him
I can not believe just how racist these comments are on here…Just disgusting!
I can’t believe some of these comments. I would vote not guilty because I believe he’s innocent & the prosecution has a weak ass case
The defense needs to hire that cell phone expert that pointed out the fact that the only cell phone location the prosecution showed was Jessica’s. They never showed Quinton’s cell phone location & they can’t move the locations over like they did, I mean wtf. That’s just 1 of the problems I see in the prosecution’s case.
Regarding the cell phone for Mr. Tillis, if his phone is not on, nor on his person, or if he did not use his phone they cannot ping it.