Jury will meet Sat. in Lee murder trial

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The jury did not come to a decision on Friday night in the fate of Michael Lee.

He's been charged with capital murder for the death of Kyser Miree in 2010.

Court will reconvene Saturday morning.

Jurors deliberated for around six hours on Friday but they could not come to a unanimous verdict.

There's one main question they have to wrestle with: was the shooting of Kyser Miree intentional or was it an accident?

Over four days of testimony, the state and the defense tried to explain what happened on the night of April 16, 2010, when 23-year-old Kyser Miree was killed.

Prosecutors said Michael Lee murdered Miree in cold blood, but the defense maintains that the shooting was an accident.

Now, it's the jury's turn to decide Lee's fate.

The jury must return a unanimous verdict on one of three choices: capital murder, murder or not guilty.

It all hinges on whether the jurors believe that the shooting was intentional or an accident.

In Alabama, a capital murder charge requires the state to prove that a killing was intentional during the commission of a felony, in this case robbery. But a murder charge can apply in an accidental shooting.

The jurors began deliberating around lunchtime.

At around 3:15 p.m., the jury asked the judge to clarify the definitions of ‘reasonable doubt’ and ‘intent’. They then returned for more deliberations

During closing arguments, Prosecutor Jo Beth Murphree said Michael Lee made a series of choices the night of the shooting: the choice to rob somebody, the choice to put a magazine in a gun, the choice to go inside a house.

She said intent can be formed in an instant, and Kyser Miree was murdered in cold blood.

She ended her arguments by showing a picture of Miree lying in a pool of blood at the crime scene.

In his closing arguments, Defense Attorney Art Powell discredited the key witnesses the state brought to the stand.

He emphasized how the corroborating witnesses were motivated by money and Lee's co-defendants were hoping that by testifying, their charges could be downgraded.

Powell said, "If this is anything, it's murder.