CAMDEN, N.J. _ A federal judge declared a mistrial Friday after a jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked in the trial of former Bordentown Township Police Chief Frank Nucera Jr. on hate-crime and assault charges.
The panel of nine white and three black jurors had deliberated for about 45 hours over eight days and had told U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler on several occasions it was deadlocked.
Called into court Friday morning after again reporting they were deadlocked, all 12 jurors said "no" when asked if they could reach a verdict.
Kugler then declared a mistrial. He gave prosecutors until Nov. 13, to decide if they would retry Nucera.
On Wednesday, the jury found Nucera, 62, guilty of lying to the FBI, but remained undecided on the two other charges, each of which carries up to 10 years in prison. Nucera could also lose his $8,800-a-month pension, which was frozen in March pending the outcome of the trial.
When Nucera was accused of the hate-crime assault in 2017, the charges made international headlines and stunned the South Jersey community. Authorities said the chief had a history of spewing racial hatred, including speaking about wanting to join a firing squad to mow down black people, comparing them to ISIS, and talking of sending police dogs to intimidate black spectators at high school basketball games.
Nucera was believed to be one of the first law enforcement officers charged with a hate crime in years. In 2009, President Barack Obama signed the hate-crime law, which was spurred by the deaths of a black victim and a gay victim.
Nucera was charged with hitting Timothy Stroye, a handcuffed black suspect, during a September 2016 incident at a Ramada hotel. Fellow officers say Stroye was in custody and not resisting when Nucera slammed the teen's head into a metal doorjamb during a scuffle with police.
Police were dispatched to the Ramada after an employee said Stroye, then 18, of Trenton, and his girlfriend were swimming in the pool and had not paid their bill. Nucera arrived with backup officers.
At the center of the charges in the trial against Nucera were 81 recordings secretly made by Sgt. Nathan Roohr that captured the chief using racial slurs. Roohr and another officer also said they saw Nucera hit Stroye.
Nucera resigned from dual positions as chief and township administrator in January 2017 after learning the FBI was investigating. He was paid $155,444 a year.
Roohr said he began secretly recording Nucera with his cellphone in 2015 after Nucera said blacks are "like ISIS" and deserved to die. He said he became concerned about Nucera's increasing hostility against blacks in the predominantly white community.
The prosecution contended that the racial animus was evidence the alleged assault by Nucera was racially motivated. In a recording played during the trial, Nucera could be heard saying, "It's gonna get to the point where I could shoot one of these (expletives)."
During its deliberations, the jury asked for transcripts of the testimony of seven of the nine witnesses called by the prosecution. The defense rested without calling any witnesses.
The defense has contended that Nucera was disliked by his officers, who wanted him out as chief. Cipparone has also said that Nucera made no admissions on the recordings.
The jury found on Wednesday that Nucera lied to the FBI, which secretly recorded an interview with him three months after the Ramada incident. Nucera was not charged with making a specific false statement.
Nucera could face up to five years in prison on the lying charge. Kugler set sentencing for Feb. 6.
