A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday evening in the 1971 killing of a special sheriff's deputy as jurors were deadlocked after more than two days of deliberation.
One juror who remained anonymous told News4 that several people on the jury didn’t think the state proved its case and that one or two were convinced they would never convict 71-year-old Larry David Smith in the death of Montgomery County Deputy James Tappen Hall.
“This is not over yet,” said Hall’s daughter, Carolyn Philo. “We will be back.”
Smith is accused of killing Hall after Hall came upon evidence of a burglary at Manor Country Club, where Hall worked as a security guard.
Hall’s killing remained unsolved for more than 50 years before two cold case detectives took another look at the evidence. Smith was arrested at his home in New York after detectives found a taped interview he gave police in 1973.
Prosecutors say Smith confessed after detectives questioned him about the case in September 2022, but defense attorneys say the confession was poisoned by the detectives who closed the case.
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In that interview, Smith had details that only the killer would know, but at the time, the detectives investigating the killing discounted much of what he said, noting Smith got a number of facts wrong.
Prosecutors say Smith was lying to investigators back then.
In closing arguments Friday, prosecutors told the jury Smith confessed to his daughter after his arrest, saying, “I guess I killed someone. I’m going to prison.” He also confessed to his son, saying, “I knew it was going to catch up with me.”
The prosecutor told the jury Smith confessed, admitted fleeing the crime scene, knew intimate details of the crime, placed himself at the scene and confessed three times -- to police, son and daughter.
During testimony Thursday, the jury saw a videotaped interview with Smith from September 2022, at which point he had not been arrested or charged.
“The shooting came from somebody of your height, so, is this an accident or did you intentionally try to shoot the security guard?” a detective asked during the interview.
“I never had the intent to shoot anybody,” Smith answered.
“OK, was it an accident, then?” the detective asked.
“Yeah,” Smith replied.
Defense attorney Kevin Collins told the jury there was no confession.
“He had no memory of what happened in 1971,” Collins said. “He adopted what detectives told him. These details don’t come from Smith’s memory. They were fed to him.”
During the trial, Philo heard Smith admit on tape he shot her father.
“I don’t understand how they did not come to a guilty verdict,” she said. “I just don’t know how they decided not to find this man guilty.”
“This is not the first time we’ve had a hung jury here in Montgomery County,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said. “This is a case that, again, we are pledging to retry. As we prepare for our retrial, which we are dedicated to pursue, we will pursue and try to develop any information that will make the retrial of this matter as strong as possible on behalf of the whole family.”
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