‘They just couldn’t agree’: Jessica Chambers murder trial prosecutor speaks out on mistrial as he weights trying Quinton Tellis a THIRD time for cheerleader’s burning death

The District Attorney who led the prosecution of Jessica Chambers murder suspect Quinton Tellis reportedly spoke to Inside Edition about the hung jury, which led to a mistrial, and plans to try Tellis for a third time.

Tellis has been accused of burning 19-year-old Jessica Chambers alive in December 2014, and faced his second murder trial this month. Last year, at Tellis’s first trial, a judge declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked.

And on Monday, history repeated itself, despite new witnesses for the prosecution. On the second day of deliberations, the jury told Judge Judge Gerald Chatham Clarence that they could not agree on a verdict. He initially ordered them back to deliberate further, but when they returned later in the day insisting they were hopelessly deadlocked, Judge Clarence declared a mistrial.

“We put on what I believe to be the very, very best case that we could put on and they just couldn’t agree,” District Attorney John Champion reportedly told Inside Edition about the results of the proceedings.

And he reportedly added that he has not made a decision about whether to try Tellis a third time.

Likely among the prosecutor’s considerations is the fact that Tellis is already behind bars, serving a ten-year sentence following a guilty plea for using a woman’s ATM card to take money from her account. But he’s expected to face even more serious charges: That same woman was brutally tortured and murdered just days before Tellis illegally used her card, in her Louisiana apartment.

Tellis was extradited to Mississippi in connection to the Chambers murder case before he was formally indicted on murder charges in Louisiana, but he’s the prime suspect in the case.

On Monday, Nancy Grace gave an exclusive statement to CrimeOnline about the mistrial.

“The mistrial is so disappointing,” Nancy said. “I know Jessica’s parents are devastated.”

“The evidence against Tellis is overwhelming. I pray Jessica’s family can get justice in Quentin Tellis’s other murder trial in Louisiana.”

 

[Feature image: Panola County District Attorney John Champion holds up an enlarged selfie that Jessica Chambers had taken before her death. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, Pool, File)]