Jury Deadlocks in Indianapolis Police Trial

A trial ended in a hung jury Saturday for four police officers accused of inciting a drunken brawl after attending a minor league baseball game that was supposed to be their reward for outstanding work.

Jurors deliberated about 12 hours Friday and three hours Saturday before they sent a note to Marion Superior Court Judge Ruth Reichard that said they were hopelessly deadlocked.

Prosecutors indicated they would retry the case.

Jurors told Reichard that they felt no amount of time would let them resolve their differences on a case that already had driven deep divisions into the community over the past 14 months and had cost former Police Chief Donald Christ his job.

The defendants were Officers Paul Tutsie, 34, who is on indefinite suspension without pay; Edward P. Brickley Jr., 28; Gregory C. Gehring, 33; and former Officer Jason D. Hansman, 27, who was fired after a later, unrelated street fight.

They faced various misdemeanor counts of battery, disorderly conduct and public intoxication in the Aug. 27, 1996, fight outside Circle Centre mall.

In closing arguments Friday, prosecutor Mark Stoner told jurors they could have been the civilians unlucky enough to cross paths with the officers.

“If you allow the police to behave like criminals, then none of us are safe,” Stoner, a deputy Marion County prosecutor, told the panel.

“You could have been out on the streets, as this man was,” Stoner said, pointing to witness Jeffrey Gordon, who testified of being battered and having a loaded gun pointed at his head after encountering a group of men who smelled of alcohol.

The officers, all white, were accused of harassing women and beating up Gordon, who is black.

Prosecutors said the four, plus 13 other officers who also were being rewarded for outstanding work, consumed 6 1/2 cases of beer in the city’s luxury suite at a minor league baseball game, then made racist and sexist comments to passersby as they returned to police headquarters.

Controversy over the case led to the resignation of the police chief, and some political observers believe that it helped doom Mayor Stephen Goldsmith’s gubernatorial bid a year ago.

Defense attorney James Voyles said Gordon and another man, Richard Craig, should be on trial for fighting with the officers.