Hykeem Tucker and Maurice Skillman - two men accused of killing an off-duty corrections office in 2012 - must be retried after a hung jury Friday.
TRENTON -- Jurors deciding the fate of two men accused of killing an off-duty corrections officer were deadlocked on their fourth day of deliberations Friday, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial.
Hykeem Tucker and Maurice Skillman, charged with the 2012 shooting death of off-duty Mercer County Corrections Officer Carl Batie, will be retried, the Mercer County Prosecutors Office said.
Hykeem Tucker (left) and Maurice Skillman (right) Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson will meet with attorneys next week to determine a date for the retrial, officials said.
The development ends the four-week murder trial, which started in mid-January.
Prosecutors believe Tucker and Skillman arrived at the Baldassari Regency banquet hall in Trenton in November 2012 and fired 22 shots at a balcony where about 50 people were congregating.
Batie, who was attending a party at the hall with his brother that night, was the only one killed in the gunfire. Authorities believe he was not the intended target.
Tucker and Skillman were indicted on charges of murder, aggravated assault and weapons charges in 2013.
Prosecutors brought forth a slew of evidence over the four weeks of the trial.
The evidence included a lighter and hat found at the scene and video surveillance of a parking lot where two men are seen rummaging through a car just before the shooting.
Batie's brother, Karshawn Batie, also testified about the night his brother was shot, saying that he heard quick "pop" sounds and dropped to the ground.
But Smithson remarked on two occasions that much of the evidence did not seem to have a direct connection to Tucker and Skillman.
"We have a lot of evidence now that doesn't mean anything," he told a courtroom without the jurors present near the beginning of the trial.
After closing arguments Tuesday, which centered largely on the video surveillance of the banquet hall surrounding the time of the shooting, jurors went into deliberations for almost four days.
They came back with questions including whether they could consider alternative theories, Tucker's attorney Chris Campbell said.
Campbell added that jurors wanted to see a lot of video footage over the four days of deliberation.
"It seemed like this was bound to happen," Campbell said of the deadlocked jury.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.