ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A jury has deadlocked and a mistrial has been declared in a Northern Virginia murder case in which the defendant said he thought his victim was a werewolf.
WRC-TV in Washington reports that the judge dismissed the jurors Wednesday after three days of deliberations in Alexandria Circuit Court in the trial of 34-year-old Pankaj Bhasin.
He was charged with murder in the July 13 death of 65-year-old Bradford Jackson, who managed a window store in Old Town Alexandria. His neck was broken and he was stabbed more than 50 times with a box cutter.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed Bhasin was mentally ill, but prosecutors disputed Bhasin was legally insane.
Bhasin’s lawyers said their client was suffering delusions after checking out of a mental hospital near his New Jersey home.
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Information from: WRC-TV, http://nbcwashington.com
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