[Banfield:] I have covered a lot of courtrooms. I have sat in a lot of courtrooms. I have watched so many verdicts, I can`t even count. But the was a verdict today in Mississippi that truly blew my mind more than O.J. Because in the case of Jessica Chambers and the horrifying death that she suffered, she was virtually burned alive, Quinton Tellis, the man on the right of your screen was charged and he was tried. And the jury came out today with something I can only describe as absolute chaos. When they came back, they actually returned two, two verdicts. And it didn`t take long for the first one to create a big ole stir. Here it was.
[Unidentified Male:] Please read the verdict.
[Unidentified Female:] We, the jury, found the defendant, Quinton Verdell Tellis, not guilty of capital murder.
[Unidentified Male:] In a request to cancel?
[John Champion, District Attorney, Panola County:] Yes, sir. We request the jury to be polled.
[Unidentified Male:] All right.
[Banfield:] Not guilty. That would be very, very upsetting for that family. I could have said it would be like clockwork that a family would fall to pieces. Remember O.J. and the Goldmans and how they fell to pieces hearing not guilty? It is devastating because we have protections in this country called double jeopardy. You can`t be tried again. That`s it, done. Not guilty means you walk out that door, you cannot be tried again for that murder. Here is the problem. That was absolutely not what the jury decided. That was not what they deliberated over nine hours and agreed upon. That was not what they marked their jury ballots with. What they marked their jury ballots wit turned out to be something completely different. So, an hour later, guess what happened? They came out and they announced this. Have a look.
[Unidentified Female:] We, the jury, cannot unanimously make a verdict of guilty or not guilty for the defendant, Quinton Verdell Tellis.
[Banfield:] Oh, that`s totally different, yes. That is totally, totally different. That means you got another crack at this guy. That means we couldn`t come to consensus for or against this verdict, but you can go ahead and find another jury, if you want. So that is a very big deal. Therese Apel is a reporter for the Clarion Ledger. She was in the courtroom for that moment or should I say
[Therese Apel, Reporter, The Clarion Ledger:] I think that`s kind of what we all felt because, you know, you had the first time they came out and wanted to know, if we can`t decide unanimously that he`s guilty, does that mean that he`s not? So, the judge reiterated again that you have to have a unanimous verdict. What the jury instructions actually said was you have to have a unanimous guilty verdict, but I don`t think it specified that also applied to a not guilty verdict. So, I believe that the confusion was that they thought that if they didn`t all think he was guilty, that he was, by default, not guilty.
[Banfield:] Well, that`s a problem. That`s a big problem because, you know, you are supposed to have instructions when you go back. These are average people. They are mechanics and hairdressers. They are everything but usually lawyers and judges who know how the mechanicings of a courtroom work. Shame on the system for not helping those people to understand how significant that was. Real quickly though. Is this make up correct? Is this five black jurors said not guilty. Two black jurors said guilty. And five white jurors said guilty. Is that correct?
[Apel:] Yes, that`s what we got as we listened to them when they polled the jury.
[Banfield:] Well, that`s a big ole racial split right there. Let me bring in defense attorney and CNN legal analyst, Joey Jackson. He joins me now. I am always upset when I see that. I am always upset when I see things almost exactly going down racial lines. For the white folk, it went right down racial line.
[Joey Jackson, Criminal Defense Attorney, Cnn And Hln Legal Analyst:] It absolutely did. And back to your point about polling the jury, let`s take it all the way back.
[Banfield:] Oh, yes. By the way, really important if you are a litigator, poll your jury.
[Jackson:] And let`s talk about what that means. So now they come back. That is the jury, right? They say they read the verdict and it`s not guilty. It`s over, right? But then they ask for the jury to be polled. That is the attorney, right?
[Banfield:] They wanted the jury to be polled.
[Jackson:] Now, polling a jury means going one by one to the individuals and saying, is that your verdict? And then surprise, Ashleigh, it wasn`t the verdict because seven of them said guilty. Now we get to the issue of the racial lines. Think about O.J. and, of course, the O.J. jury which, right, said that he was not guilty. A lot of America would beg to differ. How many of those jurors, 11 African-American, right, having a point of view that, look, there`s a problem with the system. There`s a distrust to the system. Perhaps justice is not justice after all. I think to this case
[Banfield:] One of those one of those jurors, a black juror in the O.J. articulated that in a fantastic documentary that came out that this was a screw you over Rodney King.
[Jackson:] A hundred percent of years of injustice.
[Banfield:] Yes.
[Jackson:] But if you go to the racial composition and the make up, you have the African-American jurors here apparently saying, wait a second, she said it was Eric, Eric, Eric who did it, right? Derrick or Eric who did it. This guy`s name is Tellis Quinton, so that is a discrepancy. He has an alibi defense, and so race matters, whether we want to believe it or not.
[Banfield:] I thought the case was a stinker, period. I just thought the evidence was stinker material. I don`t think it was conviction worthy. To see five whites all say guilty troubles me greatly. But to just see such division, it troubles me even more for another
[Jackson:] I get it.
[Banfield:] Yes. Joey, hold on for one second. I got that shocking video. I want to bring that if I can. Remember the cheerleaders on video brought to tears by a coach who forced her and others into very, very painful splits? So the D.A. looked at the case and guess what? Like the banner says, no charges. How is this not criminal?