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Mistrial declared in weapons possession case

OBSERVER Photo by Gregory Bacon Instead of sitting in the jury box, jurors for the Mikial Moore and Torries Jones court case sat in the courtroom seats, where the general public normally sits. Each juror was required to sit in front of his/her humber, in order to keep jurors spread apart.

MAYVILLE — A mistrial was declared last week in Chautauqua County Court for two Buffalo men facing weapons possession charges.

No new trial date for Mikial Moore and Torrie Jones, being tried as co-defendants, has been set, a court clerk said. Chautauqua County Court Judge David Foley declared the mistrial Nov. 30, on the fifth day of proceedings.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt, the lead prosecutor along with assistant district attorney Erik Bentley, said because the case is still pending he could not discuss specifics regarding the mistrial. However, he noted that Foley was “forced to declare a mistrial after certain information was conveyed to the jurors which should not have been.”

He added, in a statement to The Post-Journal: “All trials present a mix of fact and law questions, with the jurors deciding the factual issues and the judge having the responsibility of making legal rulings governing the case. These trial-related legal rulings are important because they generally dictate what evidence a jury may consider.

“Here, certain information outside the scope of the court’s rulings was inadvertently shared during trial testimony, leading the judge to consider whether the defendants could continue to receive a fair trial. This was a difficult decision with which Judge Foley was faced and he acted as best as the court could under the circumstances. Ultimately any conviction obtained by my office must be done while safeguarding the rights of the accused, so we understand the decision; it’s unfortunate but I’m ready to retry the case as soon as we obtain a new trial date.”

Moore and Jones are each facing a charge of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon following a shooting March 26, 2020, in front of 707 Jefferson St. in Jamestown. A city man drove himself to UPMC Chautauqua for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries after he was reportedly struck in the head.

An investigation by the Jamestown Police Department led to six arrests, including Moore and Jones.

During a search of the Jefferson Street home, investigators reportedly found four unlawfully possessed handguns along with 200 rounds of ammunition, 12 pounds of marijuana, 1.2 ounces of cocaine and around $4,000 in cash.

The pair was indicted in August 2020.

Attorney David Roggenbaum has been representing Moore while the county Public Defender’s Office has been representing Jones. The mistrial followed more than a week of jury selection.

“It’s always disappointing when you put so much time and effort into the jury selection to have it end up in a mistrial,” said Barone, who noted that his office will be prepared if another trial is scheduled.

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