A hung jury led a judge on Friday to declare a mistrial in the Grand Junction case of a man .
The decision came after four days of deliberations by jurors and more than a month after the trial began. A new trial date was not immediately set.
Lester Ralph Jones, 65, is suspected of killing Birgfeld, a 34-year-old mother of three who led a double life as a paid escort, in 2007. He faces accusations of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping.
Chief District Judge Brian Flynn initially ordered the jurors Friday morning to keep deliberating after they reported being deadlocked about 11:30 a.m.
“We are unable to come to a unanimous decision,” Flynn read from a note submitted Friday morning by the foreman. “The jury feels we have exhausted our choices.”
Flynn said he believed the jurors could use more time in the case and ordered them to continue their deliberations.
A few hours later, however, at roughly 1:30 p.m., jurors sent another note to the court, saying: “The jury remains in the same position. … We do not feel any further discussion will change our current state.”
District Attorney Dan Rubinstein then said a mistrial seemed the best course of action, and Jones’ defense team agreed.
Jurors on Sept. 2, but opted to begin their deliberations on Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend. It was not immediately clear Friday afternoon when, or if, the case would be retried.
“I am not commenting, as it remains a pending case,” Rubinstein told The Denver Post.
Attorneys are due back in court Sept. 16 to reset the trial, he said.
Prosecutors say Jones set Birgfeld’s car on fire and dumped her body in 2007. She was reported missing in July of that year, and her car was found torched days later, her personal items strewn near U.S. 50.Birgfeld’s remains were found on March 6, 2012, by a hiker who spotted them in the Wells Gulch area in Delta County.
Jones with Mesa County Sheriff Matt Lewis that while there is a “very circumstantial basis to this case,” he believed authorities had sufficient evidence showing Jones is Birgfeld’s killer.
However, Jones’ defense team, in their closing arguments, said authorities “screwed up the investigation from the get-go,” pointing who could have been responsible for killing Birgfeld.
“At no point can I tell you who the real killer is,” one of his lawyers told jurors. “I don’t know. And thatap a problem.”
The attorney added: “There are a host of problems with the case they have prepared against Mr. Jones.”
Birgfeld sold kitchen products and homemade baby slings from her Grand Junction home and was active in a moms’ social group. She also ran an escort business, called Models Inc., but her double life wasn’t discovered until after she disappeared.
Several men were investigated in connection with Birgfeld’s disappearance and death, including her two ex-husbands.
Jones has a previous criminal record, including a five-year prison sentence for first-degree assault and second-degree attempted kidnapping.
Jones was interviewed a number of times after Birgfeld’s disappearance, and investigators found he frequently solicited prostitution and patronized Birgfeld’s business, including in the days leading up to her disappearance.
Investigators noted that he was one of the last people to call Birgfeld before she disappeared. Authorities said he seemed nervous when he was first interviewed in the summer of 2007, telling them, “I didn’t do it.”
Jury selection in the case began in late July.
