Second mistrial declared in case of Miss. woman burned to death

A Mississippi judge declared a second mistrial Monday in the capital murder case of a man accused of setting a woman on fire, after jurors once again said they couldn’t reach a verdict.

Panola County Circuit Judge Gerald Chatham made his ruling in the trial of Quinton Tellis after jurors deliberated for about 10 hours over two days. Tellis, now 29, was accused of setting Jessica Chambers ablaze in 2014.

As in the first trial, jurors had to choose between evidence that prosecutors said linked the defendant to Chambers’ death and testimony by emergency workers that they heard a dying Chambers say someone named Eric attacked her.

Panola County District Attorney John Champion told reporters after the mistrial Monday that he isn’t sure yet whether he will seek to try a man a third time on charges that he set a woman on fire in 2014.

“We put on what I believe is the very, very best case we could put on and they just couldn’t agree,” Champion said. “I can understand that.”

Defense Attorney Darla Palmer said the mistrial felt like a victory for the defense.

“It feels like a ‘not guilty’ to me, honestly,” Palmer told reporters. “This will be the second time we’ve done this. Each time, though we can’t get all the jurors to agree on it, we certainly had those that feel that he’s not guilty of this charge.”

Tellis won’t walk free. Champion said he will be sent to Louisiana to face charges there. Tellis has been indicted for murder in the stabbing death of Meing-Chen Hsiao, a Taiwanese former graduate student, in the city of Monroe. Tellis has already pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of Hsiao’s debit card. He’s also serving a fiveyear sentence on an unrelated burglary conviction in Mississippi.

Defense attorneys again insisted that prosecutors had the wrong man, pointing to the testimony of 10 firefighters and emergency medical personnel.