CENTENNIAL — Jurors in the Aaron Thompson trial skipped lunch today, leading case observers to believe that a verdict was near.
But the jury headed home at about 4:30 p.m. without returning a decision in the 57-count case against Thompson.
Thompson is accused of abusing eight children, including his daughter, Aaroné, who lived with him and his girlfriend in a home on East Kepner Place in Aurora.
The jurors, who will return to deliberations at 8:30 a.m. Monday, have likely reached consensus on whether other children in the Thompson home were abused by him, but they may be struggling with whether he is responsible for Aaroné’s death, a local attorney said.
That the jury finished an eighth day of deliberations without reaching a verdict can’t be good news for prosecutors, who say Thompson should be convicted in the death of Aaroné, local attorney Dan Recht said.
During the six-week trial in Arapahoe County District Court, prosecutors did not present any evidence directly linking Thompson to the girl’s death. She would have been 6 years old when her father reported her missing in November 2005. Authorities believe she died two years earlier. Her body has not been found.
Thompson’s girlfriend, Shelley Lowe, who also was a suspect, died in 2006.
“The further we get, the less likely it will be he gets convicted for Aaroné’s death,” said Recht, who is not associated with the case. “Eight days is really long for any trial. On the other hand, they have a lot of charges to go over.”
Thompson faces 57 criminal charges, including child abuse resulting in death. Three of the charges are specifically about Aaroné’s death. The rest relate to the alleged abuse of the other children, the cover up of her death and the disposing of her body.
During the trial, jurors heard dramatic testimony from all the children — whether it was taped, in person or both — that Thompson and Lowe beat them repeatedly with a belt, extension cords and a bat.
They also were shown pictures of bruises and marks left by the punishments. So the jury could have decided on those counts by now.
“We knew for a fact going in, that without a body, any child abuse resulting in death charge was going to be a longshot,” said legal analyst Scott Robinson. “But what we have in this case is conflicting second-hand accounts as to how the little girl met her end. I’m sure that’s a factor in the lengthy deliberations.”
In other cases when a jury deliberates this long, the group typically has by now sent a note out to the judge that it is deadlocked.
If the jury does end up deadlocked, District Court Judge Valeria Spencer would call the jurors into the courtroom and urge them to continue deliberating.
But that hasn’t happened yet. The jurors have submitted a few questions, mostly about procedural issues.
There is a chance that if there is a hung jury on the charges relating to Aaroné, the prosecution could retry him on those, Recht said.
Even if the prosecution does not get a conviction on the charges relating to Aaroné’s death, Thompson is still likely to go to jail for the rest of his life, Recht said, if he is convicted of the other abuse charges.
“From an emotional perspective, they would like to see him go down for child abuse resulting in death,” Recht said of the prosecution. “But they would be sufficiently happy with multiple convictions of child abuse because he will spend the rest of his life in prison.”
Robinson cautioned that observers should not read too much into the long deliberations.
“The one thing I like about long deliberations is that it reflects hard work and determination by the jury to do it right,” he said. “You want a jury to take its time.
“This is a very serious case,” he said.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
