Was Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise in a hurry to start his Thanksgiving weekend? It’s hard to see another explanation for his rush to declare a mistrial in the Karina Vetrano case.
Aloise stunned the courtroom Tuesday by dismissing the jury when it sent its first note claiming to be deadlocked after just 13 hours of deliberation. It’s nearly unheard of for a judge to declare a mistrial at the first claim of a deadlock, especially without first delivering an Allen charge to press jurors to keep deliberating.
As one defense attorney told The Post: “Allen charges normally work.” At the least, they ensure that jurors make every last effort to debate the evidence and reach a verdict.
And one juror told The Post that several jurors wanted to keep on deliberating.
The case seemed a slam-dunk: Prosecutors had a videotaped confession and DNA evidence. Yes, the defense did its job by questioning all that. But the judge let the jurors get away without doing their job as soon as the foreman declared them “split.”
So now Chanel Lewis will have to be retried for the 2016 sexual assault, brutal beating and strangulation murder of 30-year-old jogger Vetrano in Queens’ Spring Creek Park.
Which means more court time and resources — and more heartbreak for the Vetrano family, who will have to endure the ordeal of another trial.
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