A Marianna jury hung up and a mistrial was declared in the prosecution of convicted killer Curtis Vance on a charge that he raped a Marianna school teacher.
David Goins at Fox 16 reports a mistrial in the case with the jury hung 7-5. No immediate mention if the majority favored conviction or acquittal. Channel 7 had noted earlier that the jury was composed of seven blacks and five whites; six women and six men. No idea which voted which direction.
Vance is serving a life sentence for the slaying of Channel 7’s Anne Pressly.
Vance testified that he didn’t rape the teacher. She said she’d been ordered not to look at her attacker and couldn’t identify Vance as the assailant. But his DNA was found in a rape examination. He also had told Little Rock detectives he’d raped the teacher, but said he’d been coerced in that. He had no explanation for how his DNA came to be found on the victim and her bathrobe. His attorney dismissed the conclusive DNA match. It was the DNA found in that case that led to Vance’s arrest for Pressly’s murder.