NEW ORLEANS, May 17 (UPI) -- A jury in New Orleans said Thursday it is unable to reach a verdict in the second-degree murder trial of former NFL player Terreal Bierria.
After more than seven hours of deliberations, the jury foreman told Judge Martin Coady that the panel was hopelessly deadlocked, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported.
The judge declared a mistrial and set a new trial date.
Bierria is accused of killing a friend named Soron Salter, 29, who he had known since they played junior varsity football at Salmen High School.
Bierria went on to star at the University of Georgia and was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks while Salter stayed in Louisiana and ended up in prison in 2005 for selling crack.
In testimony at his trial, Bierria said that Salter had started a fight on October 19, 2009 that left both men drenched in blood.
Salter was stabbed dozens of times with a kitchen knife and a screwdriver, hit over the head with a candlestick and then choked to death, police said.
What the two men were fighting over remained unclear after a three-day trial, the Times-Picayune reported.
