Jury deadlocked in Madsen murder trial

A judge Tuesday morning ordered a jury to try again after they said they were unable to reach a verdict in the Caleb Madsen murder trial.In a letter, jurors told Judge Mark S. Curry they were "unable to reach a consensus" on whether the 27-year-old Granite Bay man is guilty of killing his friend and neighbor, Christopher Worth. Jurors got the case on March 5. "We have tried several times and are sure no one will change their minds," the jurors wrote in the letter, delivered Tuesday morning.But Judge Curry told them his experience is that juries can come to a verdict after ini-tially deadlocking. "On more than one occasion, a jury that's initially unable to reach a verdict is ultimately able to arrive at a verdict on one or more counts," he told the jury after convening at the Historic Courthouse in Auburn.He urged them to employ new deliberation methods, such as role-playing or changing discussion leaders."Do not hesitate to re-examine your own views," Curry said.Curry did not poll the six-man, six-woman jury to determine where jurors stood.If jurors remain deadlocked, it would be the second time a trial for the murder did not result in a verdict. A previous jury deadlocked seven to five in favor of Madsen's guilt in March 2008 after deliberating for five days. Later Tuesday, jurors the judge for clarification in the use of circumstantial evidence in arriving at a decision.Curry allotted each side 15 minutes to argue over evidence after the jury asked in a letter if they could find the defendant guilty on circumstantial evidence and "ignore the lack of DNA" evidence linked to Madsen.Several drops of blood were found in the driveway of the Madsen residence and two of them were tied through DNA analysis to Worth. But no DNA evidence links Madsen to Worth's body, his attorney, Mary Beth Acton, has said. In his remarks Tuesday afternoon, Prosecutor Bill Marchi asked jurors to consider a mix of direct and circumstantial evidence, which he said was overpowering."Just to say that's not there isn't to say to ignore the evidence that is there," he said.Marchi said a statement by Madsen, in which he appears to confess, is also strong direct evidence – and that DNA is not required to convict."There is no evidence that somebody else killed him," he said.But Acton countered that if jurors buy the prosecution's theory of the killing – that Worth was stabbed at the Madsen house and then driven in Worth's truck to a Granite Bay field – then Madsen's DNA would have to be evident."We're talking about moving a body," she said. "There is no evidence that links Caleb Madsen to this crime."Jurors were expected to meet again for deliberations at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.