TRENTON – The jury in the Ivelis Turell murder case could not reach a verdict again Monday, despite more than 18 hours of deliberation starting last Wednesday.
Ivelis Turell, on trial for allegedly killing her boyfriend Michael Whitaker, tries to avoid having her picture taken at the Mercer County Criminal Courthouse.
In a note to Mercer County Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez just after noon, the jury said it has deliberated a “significant’’ amount of hours and hadn’t been able make a decision.
The judge sent them to lunch with orders to return at 2 p.m. to try again to come to a verdict. By 4:15 p.m., they hadn’t and were sent home with orders to return Tuesday morning at 9.
Turell, 34, is charged with killing the father of her two boys, Michale Whitaker, during a long day of argument at their home on Ferry Street the night of April 30, 2007.
Prosecutors contend she shot deliberately because Whitaker refused to sign a letter agreeing to pay off their credit cards bills before leaving her and their sons, then ages 2 and 6.
The defense contends Turell was an abused spouse who accidentally shot Whitaker as they tussled for the gun, a 9 mm Ruger that also went off and shot the woman in the shoulder.
A dozen or so friends and relatives of both Whitaker and Turell have been attending the trial, now in its third week.