TEXAS
Beeville Bee-Picayune
Gary Kent Mar 3, 2017
BEEVILLE —A former priest in a week-long trial on a charge of aggravated sexual assault learned late Friday that a seven-woman, five-man jury was not able to come up with a unanimous verdict.
Minutes after receiving a note from jurors after more than nine hours of deliberation, District Judge Starr Bauer called the jury back into the courtroom and declared a mistrial.
Bauer told the jurors, “You all worked extremely hard for your $40.”
The defendant, defrocked Catholic priest Stephen Dougherty, was met by family members and friends immediately after Bauer sent the jury home.
Testimony in the trial had started Tuesday morning in Bauer’s courtroom with Assistant District Attorney Terry Breen and San Antonio defense attorney John Penckney III calling witnesses.
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