BRIDGEPORT— A mistrial has been declared because of a hung jury in the case of a man accused of killing and dismembering an Eastern Connecticut State University student.
The Bridgeport Superior Court jury was in its fifth day of deliberations when it announced Friday it was deadlocked 6-6 on the charges against 32-year-old Jermaine Richards.
Richards is accused in the April 2013 killing of his girlfriend, 20-year-old Alyssiah Wiley, an Eastern student from West Haven. Her partial remains were found in a wooded area in Trumbull about a month after she was last seen with Richards outside her dorm.
Richards told investigators he had dropped Wiley off near the campus in Willimantic.
The clerk’s office told Fox CT that Judge John Kavanewsky declared a mistrial.
Joseph T . Corradino, the state’s attorney who prosecuted the case, also told Fox CT that the state will retry the case with the same prosecution team as soon a a court date can be set.
Corradino also said that he and his co-counsel spent a considerable amount of time this afternoon with the family of Wiley and explained what happened and how the state will move forward with a retrial of the defendant.
