No try again? | Sampson Independent

A decision on whether to retry a Pennsylvania man on the three most serious offenses he faced in the shooting death of a Sampson County sheriff’s deputy could be made later this week.

That was the word Monday morning from District Attorney Ernie Lee, who said his plan is to discuss the details of the cases against Michael Walthall with those directly involved in the case and make a decision, hopefully by the end of the week.

“We haven’t made that decision yet,” Lee said in a telephone interview Monday morning. “I intend to meet with our prosecutors (Robert Thigpen and Jennifer Barnes) and speak with the sheriff and the officer (Deputy Caitlin Emanuel). My goal is to make a decision by Friday.”

The decision to retry Walthall came immediately after a jury of seven women and five men failed to acquit or convict Walthall on three charges – assault with intent to kill and cause serious bodily injury, malicious assault on a law enforcement officer. murder causing great bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting great bodily injury – during a five-day investigation in late October.

The jury was split 11-1 on those charges and told Superior Court Judge Greg Bell they could not reach a unanimous decision. However, they found Walthall guilty of two lesser crimes: assault by strangulation and theft of a firearm. Bell continued sentencing on these two charges until a later date.

The case against Walthall stems from an incident that occurred in the early morning hours of July 23, 2022, on Hayne Stretch Road, where Emanuel and Deputy Tyler Spell went to investigate a vehicle theft.

In her October testimony to the jury, Emanuel recounted her 7:00 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift from July 22 to 23, 2022, saying it began normally when she worked in the Roseboro, Salemburg and Autryville zones while Seple was assigned to Roseboro. limits of the city under an agreement with this city.

She detailed how things unfolded that night, saying she located the vehicle, drove a little further down the road looking for potential suspects, and then returned to the area where the stolen vehicle was located.

Emanuel, sometimes emotional, told jurors that the man, later identified as Walthall, waved her off. She explained that Walthall told her and then Spell that the suspect had fled the car, and he warned Spell that “if you go now, you can catch him,” which Spell did.

The deputy said Walthall told her he lived across the street and she asked him to go get an ID. He left, she said, but came back. That’s when Emanuel said the attack happened, followed by the shooting.

Detailing what defense attorney Amos J. Tindall called a 12-second incident, Emanuel said when she asked to see her identification, Walthall left the scene to retrieve it: “That’s when he covered my whole face with his huge hand and threw me me on the floor. Earth.”

A struggle ensued with Walthall, during which the deputy was placed in a chokehold while being restrained with his foot, testimony showed. “I felt like I had an elephant on my chest,” she testified. “I tried to resist, but it was like fighting a bear.”

Audio evidence in the case that was played for the jury detailed the woman’s (Emanuel) screams, followed by unmistakable gunshots, seven in total, and then more screams.

Prosecutors alleged that Walthall fired the shots that struck Emanuel, causing her to break her leg and injure her heel, an injury that she said forced her off the road and into the administration of the Sampson County Sheriff’s Department.

The defense said evidence in the case did not prove Walthall intended to harm Emanuel during the 12-second incident that left her wounded and bleeding on a dark stretch of highway as he ran away, throwing her gun into a field.

The jury deliberated for less than an hour before asking questions of the judge and returned before dark, saying they could not reach a decision on three of the five charges against him.