Legally, there’s no limit. But all the same, prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York working the case of mobster John Gotti Jr. must be wondering: When a defendant gets off thanks to repeated mistrials, how many times can you retry him before it’s time to concede defeat?
Gotti’s ongoing trial, which began Sept. 21, is his fourth in five years; the previous three ended with their juries deadlocked. And on Thursday, prosecutors got some unsettling news. The jury, which has been deliberating for seven days, wrote U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel to inform him that “we are unable to reach a unanimous verdict,” according to the New York Daily News.
As is typical, the judge directed the jury to keep deliberating on the three counts facing Gotti, which include allegations of racketeering and murder. The jury was off Friday and plans to resume deliberations Monday.
