Pima County Attorney Laura Conover responded to Fridayβs mistrial in her officeβs prosecution of Christopher Clements by saying a new trial will be ordered.
Jurors deadlocked in the trial of Clements, 41, on a charge of first-degree murder in the 2012 death of 6-year-old Isabel Celis, they told Pima County Superior Court Judge James Marner after two days of deliberations. He declared a mistrial.
βAt this point, a new trial date will be ordered, and a new jury will have to be chosen to decide the matter. Our thoughts tonight are with the Celis and Gonzalez families,β said the statement Friday evening from Conoverβs office.
The other family the statement referred to is that of Maribel Gonzalez. The 13-year-old Tucson girl was killed in 2014 by Clements, according to a separate juryβs verdict last year in a successful prosecution by Conoverβs office against the convicted sex offender.
In that case, Clements was sentenced to natural life in prison for first-degree murder and to another 17 years for kidnapping, which will be served consecutively.
There was no immediate reaction to Fridayβs hung jury from Isabel Celisβ family members, who were not present in the courtroom when the mistrial was announced.
Isabelβs father, mother and brother testified about the morning in April 2012 that she went missing from her Tucson bedroom.
Clementsβ defense attorneys argued to the jury that Sergio Celis, Isabelβs father, was to blame in her death, although he was never charged and testified he had nothing to do with it, and although Clements led authorities to Isabelβs remains in a desert area five years after she went missing.
Defense attorneys pointed to a lack of physical evidence, with no fingerprints or DNA connecting Clements to Isabelβs disappearance or death.
Prosecutors told jurors the circumstantial evidence was βoverwhelming,β including internet searches on Clementsβ computer, tracking records showing his cell phone locations, and the fact he knew where her body was.
The trial lasted 10 days and the state called 26 witnesses. The defense called four witnesses; Clements did not take the stand.
Marner set a court hearing for March 27 on the status of the case.
Photos: Disappearance of Isabel Celis and Maribel Gonzalez