Michael Kiefer
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 23, 2004 12:00 AM
After two straight days of jury deadlock, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge suggested on Wednesday that prosecutors amend charges to avoid a mistrial in the murder trial of Buffalo Soldier Charles Long.
Long is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the 2001 death of Anthony Haynes, a troubled youth attending a summer desert survival camp near Buckeye run by Long's America's Buffalo Soldiers Re-Enactors Association.
Judge Ronald S. Reinstein has instructed the jury to also consider the lesser charges of manslaughter and negligent homicide. The jury is deadlocked on the distinctions.
"I think the state could make the decision to eliminate the possibility of the murder second-degree charge and the reckless manslaughter charge or whatever you choose to do, and I think that will legally eliminate the impediment that they have already told us about," Reinstein told attorneys for both sides after dismissing the jury for the week.
Deputy County Attorney Mark L. Barry said that Reinstein's statement was just a suggestion.
Long also faces seven counts of child abuse relating to other teens at the camp and one count of aggravated assault for reportedly threatening a youth with a knife.
He said he remained hopeful as his trial finished its 11th week.
"I'm a praying man," Long said when the court recessed until Dec. 30. "They've got a break now to go through the Christmas holidays. I believe in miracles."
Haynes was sitting in a disciplinary line in the July heat, when he began acting erratically, eating dirt, and possibly hallucinating. A counselor and several youths took him to a hotel and placed him, unconscious, in a shower bath, where he inhaled water.
Then, rather than call for medical help, they took him back to the camp, where he died.
The counselor pleaded guilty to negligent homicide.
The jury, which has been impaneled since Oct. 6, has only reached a verdict on the assault charge, which has not been divulged.
They began deliberating on Dec. 14 and have asked the judge about the penalties for each charge, a consideration that is beyond their responsibility as jurors.
If a mistrial had been declared, and the jury had pronounced Long guilty of the single charge, which carries a mandatory prison sentence, he would have been taken into immediate custody.
The attorneys were philosophical about the jury impasse.
"I appreciate the fact that they're giving it all they've got," Barry said.
Long's defense attorney, JoAnn P. Garcia, agreed.
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