The jurors at the murder trial of Quinton Tellis, accused of burning 19-year-old Jessica Chambers alive in December 2014, have asked to review evidence as they continue to deliberate on Monday.
Earlier Monday, the jury told the judge that they could not agree on a verdict, but he order them back for further deliberations. Later, they gave the judge a note saying that they still could not come to a unanimous decision.
After the jury broke for lunch, they reportedly gave the judge another note. A reporter for WREG said on Twitter that it was a request to review evidence that had been presented during proceedings.
Jurors are passing another note to the judge. #JessicaChambers
— Bridget Chapman (@bchapman_WREG3) October 1, 2018
At the start of the second day of jury deliberations, Judge Gerald Chatham reportedly said that someone took a phone into the courtroom on Sunday and used it to take a photo of the jurors, which they then posted to Facebook. That person was later revealed to be a female relative of Quinton Tellis.
But on Monday afternoon, a reporter for Law & Crime posted on Twitter new information from her conversation with the chief of police in Batesville, who told her that the earlier report was not accurate — the person had not taken a photo of the jurors while inside the courtroom.
#JessicaChambers – I just spoke to the chief of police. He said he was told the name of a woman that had allegedly taken a photo inside the courtroom of jurors. He questioned her. She showed them a video on her phone. It was outside the courthouse and showed no jurors.
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) October 1, 2018
A reporter for the Commercial Appeal said in a tweet that it did not appear the woman would be facing any charges.
Batesville Police Chief James McCloud just told me the person cited for supposedly shooting a pic of jurors only took a pic outside courtroom. Says she turned herself in, showed photo in question and there will be no action based on what he saw. @memphisnews @clarionledger
— Ron Maxey (@rmaxey1) October 1, 2018
But he later clarified his statement to add that authorities are still looking into what, if anything, was posted on social media regarding the jury.
Just to make sure everyone is clear RE earlier post on jury photo/video: If authorities see something improper, they’ll take action. All they have now is a post with nonspecific words and no video. Perhaps deleted. Can’t act on that. #JessicaChambers @memphisnews @clarionledger
— Ron Maxey (@rmaxey1) October 1, 2018
CrimeOnline will continue to provide updates on the Jessica Chambers murder trial.