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Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Bensonhurst Jury Appears Stymied

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From Times staff and Wire reports

Jurors deliberating murder charges against the third suspect to go on trial in the Bensonhurst racial killing appeared stymied on the most serious charge. State Supreme Court Justice Thaddeus Owens let the jurors retire for the night after they told him they felt it would be pointless to continue. Owens told the jury to be back in the courthouse by 10:30 a.m. today. During their seventh day of deliberations, the jurors weighing the fate of John Vento asked Owens the definition of “depraved indifference to human life.” Vento, 21, faces murder and lesser charges for allegedly “acting in concert” with the gang of whites who attacked and shot dead 16-year-old Yusuf Hawkins last summer.

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