Judge declares mistrial in Dalia Dippolito case

via WPTV:

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- (WPTV) -- Jurors in the Dalia Dippolito case said Wednesday they were deadlocked in reaching a verdict in her murder-for-hire retrial, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial.

The jury began deliberating again at 9:30 a.m.

After about an hour, they asked Judge Glenn Kelley if there was another charge they could consider, but Kelley said there was not.

The judge then told the jury to continue to deliberate, but the jury returned about 25 minutes later and said they still couldn't reach a verdict.

At 11:27 a.m., Kelley declared the case a mistrial.

The six jurors were deadlocked with three finding Dippolito guilty and three finding her not guilty.

Kelley set a status check hearing for Jan. 6 at 1 p.m. to decide how the case with proceed.

Dippolito, a Boynton Beach resident, was accused of hiring a hitman to kill her husband in 2009.

State Attorney Dave Aronberg released a statement shortly afterward saying his office would retry the case at the "earliest opportunity."

Boynton Beach Police Chief Jeffrey Katz re-issued the following statement regarding the case:

"We stand behind the principled work our detectives did on this investigation. We trust in our State Attorney to successfully prosecute this case, and we are confident we have given his office sufficient evidence to meet the State's burden."