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After 11 hours of deliberation, a mistrial was declared Thursday in Jason Alexander Sherwood’s homicide trial.

Jurors told Blount County Circuit Court Judge Mike Meares that they unanimously found that Sherwood was not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and not guilty of reckless homicide. The foreman of the jury said they were deadlocked on whether or not Sherwood was guilty of criminally negligent homicide.

“The court will declare this a mistrial,” Meares said after the jury explained where they stood in deliberation.

Blount County Assistant District Attorney General Rocky Young said, “We respect the decision of the jury.”

Voluntary manslaughter, the charge Sherwood was indicted on, is a Class C felony and carries a standard sentence of three to six years. Reckless homicide is a Class D felony, which carries a sentence of two to four years, and criminally negligent homicide is a Class E felony that carries a standard one to two-year sentence.

If the state chooses to prosecute the case again, Jason Sherwood will again stand trial in the Nov. 19, 2006, stabbing death of his 20-year-old brother Adam Christopher Sherwood.

Charles Carpenter said his client Jason was relieved by the outcome of the trial, but knows he will probably have to face another trial.

“He understands that it’s a mixed blessing,” Carpenter said. “He still has the criminal charge of the death of his brother hanging over his head.”

Carpenter said that he thinks the jury, of seven women and five men, spent a great deal of time examining the facts and they asked “focused and pointed questions” throughout the process.

“This struck me as an extremely conscientious jury,” Carpenter said. “They took this process quite seriously.”

Juror Marshall Davis, 20, said the jury immediately agreed on some factors as the deliberation began.

“As soon as we got in there, we voted to see where we stood,” Davis said. “Twelve voted unanimously that he was not guilty of voluntary manslaughter.”

By 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Davis said jurors had reviewed the defined terms of the charges and decided unanimously that Jason was also not guilty of reckless homicide.

Davis, who is majoring in criminal justice at ITT Technical Institute, said that when they first voted on whether or not the defendant was guilty of criminally negligent homicide, 10 jurors voted that he was not guilty and two jurors voted that he was guilty. He said they again reviewed the evidence.

“We went back over and traced our steps to make sure we didn’t miss anything,” Davis said.

They voted a second time, and nine people voted not guilty and three people voted guilty, Davis said. After reviewing the video of Jason’s interview with detectives following the incident, the jury made a drastic change. Davis said eight voted Jason guilty of criminally negligent homicide and four voted not guilty.

“The defendant’s statement played a big role in it,” Davis said.

Tale of the tape

Jurors Katie Lowry, 22, and Glenda Kennedy, 54, said they both believed Jason acted in self-defense against his brother.

“We looked over the evidence so many times to see if there was anything different that changed our minds,” Kennedy said.

Lowry said a turning point for her in the trial, was when the prosecution played the video of Jason’s statement to Blount County Sheriff’s Office detectives. During the interview, Jason was told by deputies that his brother had died and Jason’s reactions resulted in an emotional response from jurors, family members and Jason. Lowry said that his reactions made her feel that he was not guilty.

All three jurors said they wanted to continue deliberating and were frustrated that they did not come to a decision.

“We came to the point where we were all dead set,” Davis said.

Night of the fight

Jason was accused of stabbing his brother Adam after a fight on Nov. 19, 2006. The incident began at Adam and their younger brother Matthew’s residence on Russell Hollow Road after Jason assumed one of the two brothers took items from his residence without permission.

Matthew, who was 18 years old at the time, said Jason, who was 21 years old at the time, smacked him in the face, which started the fight between Jason and Adam. The brothers and Jason’s fiancee had been drinking, and drugs were found in the blood of Adam and Jason, according to testimony from the medical examiner.

Jason left his brothers’ house and went home to his residence on Tom McCall Road, where his brothers followed him. Another fight ensued on the back deck of Jason’s residence. According to witness testimony, Adam threw a propane tank through a window at Jason’s residence and then broke the back door window out with a metal table frame. Jason allegedly retrieved an 8-inch butcher knife and stabbed Adam after, according to Jason, Adam swung at him. Jason only recalls stabbing Adam once, according to his statement to detectives, but the medical examiner testified that Adam had four stab wounds — two of them significant and two superficial stab wounds.

Meares said a status hearing for the case would be set for Jan. 14.