Jury Deadlocks On False Distress Signal Case
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- A federal judge has declared a mistrial for a Maryland man accused of making a false distress signal to the Coast Guard.
The move came Tuesday after jurors couldn't agree whether to convict Larry Deffenbaugh.
Prosecutors say Deffenbaugh faked his death by jumping into the Chesapeake Bay from a rented fishing boat in 2009. His disappearance came two days before he was scheduled to appear at a hearing on a probation violation in Calvert County, Md.
The TV show "America's Most Wanted" broadcast a segment about Deffenbaugh that led to his arrest last year in Baytown, Texas.
On Tuesday U.S. District Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. in Norfolk set Deffenbaugh's retrial for May 10.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
