Hung Jury in Houghton County safe-breaking case

A trial against a Houghton County man has ended without a verdict. 

The case against a Dollar Bay man charged with safebreaking has ended in a hung jury.

20 year old Gordon Lewis was accused of trying to break into an ATM at the Miner’s State Bank in South Range last October with 18 year old Paden Rothenberger.

The jury listened to taped phone conversations from jail where Lewis asked his wife to plant false evidence implicating Rothenberger, who testified against him on Monday.

A dramatic moment occurred in the courtroom when Lewis demonstrated that jeans supposedly connecting him to the crime did not appear to fit.

Lewis said the clothing belonged to a friend.

A witness testified for the defense that Lewis’s vehicle was on blocks on the day of the robbery and could not have been used.

Prosecutor Michael Makinen stated that Lewis was willing to sacrifice people who care for him by asking them to lie on his behalf.

After suspending deliberations late yesterday afternoon, the jury reconvened this morning for several more hours.

Late in the morning, the jury informed the judge they were unable to reach a consensus on a verdict.

Circuit Court Judge Charles Goodman sent them back to the jury room to try to come to an agreement.

Around 2:00 p.m., the jury foreman told the judge they were deadlocked.

The case was declared a mistrial and Lewis was remanded back to the Houghton County Jail.

A new pretrial will be scheduled to discuss the next move in the case.