Jessica Chambers verdict: Mistrial declared after jury deadlocks

BATESVILLE — A mistrial was declared Monday in the murder case surrounding the 2014 burning death of 19-year-old Jessica Chambers after the jury came back with a not guilty verdict before deciding they were hopelessly deadlocked.

Quinton Tellis, the man accused of burning the Panola County resident to death, will likely face a new trial following the decision, continuing what has been an emotional roller coaster for everyone involved for almost three years.

Tellis, 29, who pleaded not guilty to capital murder in the Dec. 6, 2014, burning death of Chambers, did not take the stand during the trial that started Oct. 9. He could have faced life in prison without parole if convicted.

Circuit Judge Gerald Chatham declared a mistrial Monday afternoon. District Attorney John Champion said the prosecution will try the case again, but at this point a timeframe is not clear, nor is from where the jury will be drawn. The jury in this trial was drawn from Pike County after extensive media coverage of the case.

Meanwhile, Chambers' family filled up the center rows of the courtroom, where they have been every day since the case began. Family and friends of Tellis filled the right side.

The deadlock came from a misunderstanding of the jury instructions, officials said. The instructions said that a guilty verdict had to be unanimous, but didn't directly say that about a not guilty verdict. It appeared the jury thought since they couldn't unanimously decide that Tellis was guilty, that made him not guilty.

"You take the range of emotions that occurred in that short amount of time," Champion said. "We felt like it was probably a misinterpretation of a jury instruction, so we added to one of the jury instructions to make it more simplistic."

The emotional toll was felt strongly by both sides. 

"I can’t say what Quinton felt but the moment you’re in the midst of a week trial and the jury comes back and says, 'We find the defendant not guilty,' and there’s a great sense of relief there," said defense attorney Alton Peterson. "Then, you find out that’s not valid and is the result of confusion in the jury box. I don’t know how to describe that."

Among Judge Gerald Chatham, prosecutors Champion and Jay Hale, and defense attorneys Peterson and Darla Palmer, there are more than 100 years of legal experience. They'd never seen anything like a jury that tried to return a verdict twice before deadlocking.

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The prosecution felt throughout the week that they had a strong case even in the face of the fact that first responders said that Chambers told them someone named Eric set her on fire. Their last two witnesses, Mississippi Bureau of Investigations Detective Tim Douglas and U.S. Attorney's office Intelligence Analyst Paul Rowlett, were able to add visuals to the prosecution's presentation that turned the tide in the opinion of many watching the case. 

Jury deliberations began around 4 p.m. Sunday and continued until about 8:30 p.m. in the capital murder trial. The jury reconvened at 9 a.m. Monday to continue deliberations. The court was told the jury came up with the verdict around 1:30 p.m. after nearly eight hours of deliberations.

However, when Chatham brought the jury back into court and asked them if they all agreed with the decision, one juror said he did not. The judge then went into chambers with the attorneys. A few minutes later, the judge came back to court and read the specific jury instruction that states all 12 members must be unanimous in the verdict. Then the jury was sent back to continue deliberations at 1:50 p.m. 

After that, the jury came back saying they had reached a verdict. However, the decision wasn't unanimous. The verdict they reached was not guilty but after Chatham polled the jurors, it was clear the decision was split. The jury was sent back again to continue deliberations around 2:15 p.m. or so.

They came back with the deadlock around 4 p.m. 

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The Chambers family quickly exited the courtroom, without comment.

Rebecca Tellis, Quinton Tellis' mother, said she's just happy he wasn't convicted and that she's leaning on her faith.

"They won’t let me talk to him, but my son is fine. He’s fine I could see it in his eyes. If he’s fine, I’m fine," she said. "No matter what’s going on, God’s still going to have the say so at the last end."

Rebecca Tellis also had a message for Chambers' family. She said she still wants Jessica's killer found and brought to justice.

"My heart goes out for them, too," she said. "I don’t want my son guilty for a crime I know he didn’t do. But my heart goes out to them."

At this point it's unclear if Tellis goes back to Louisiana, where he's serving time for a conviction of using the credit cards of a woman in whose death he also faces murder charges. Authorities said it's too early to know what the timeline will look like between Mississippi and Louisiana as the two cases move forward.

Contact Therese Apel at 601-961-7236 or tapel@gannett.com. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.