Mistrial declared in 2007 murder charge
By Nick Hiltunen
Published in News on January 24, 2010 1:50 AM
Deon Mclean
A Wayne County Superior Court jury could not reach a verdict on a first-degree murder charge against Deon Mclean, leading to a mistrial in Wayne County Superior Court late Friday.
But Mclean, 24, will serve prison time on other related assault charges stemming from his trial for the 2007 shooting of Antron Demon Hines. He will be tried again on the murder charge.
Mclean faces nearly 20 years behind bars for his involvement in the June 2007 shootout.
His older brother, Everette Mclean, 28, of Elm Street, took a plea bargain with prosecutors for his part in events that ended in the death of Hines, 22, of Fayetteville.
Everette Mclean will serve a maximum of just over two and a half years in prison, with a minimum of 19 months. Goldsboro police initially filed a first-degree murder charge against him, but he instead he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.
At the time of the shooting, Goldsboro police reports showed the incident to be related to infighting among a group of young men. When he was killed, Hines was out of jail on bond after allegedly shooting Robert Lee Mitchell II, 22, of Kornegay Street.
Deon Mclean was accused in the shooting death of Hines, who lived on Chandler Street, and also faced other counts related to the shooting along the 800 block of Olivia Lane.
Hines, who was shot in the back, was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital, where he died.
The jury in the case was declared deadlocked after deliberating from Thursday afternoon until late Friday.
When a jury is deadlocked, the number of jurors voting guilty or not guilty is not revealed by the court.
Although a trial for the first-degree murder charge must now be rescheduled, the jury found Deon Mclean responsible for other charges related to the gunfight. He was convicted on one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflicting serious injury and another count of assault with a deadly weapon.
Those charges were related to wounds suffered by two other men at the scene, Jaquan Ronte Hines and Shawntana Thompson, according to court records.
Mclean was also found guilty of discharging a weapon into a moving conveyance, because bullets from the gunfight hit a school bus. No one on the school bus was injured, police reported.
The elder Mclean was arrested by Goldsboro police soon after Hines' death. Deon Mclean was discovered in Greensboro several days later and charged with Hines' murder.