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Mistrial ruled in Ohio shooting case

By wire services
Published May 9, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A judge declared a mistrial Sunday in the case of a man who admitted to a string of highway shootings - one of which killed a woman - but claimed innocence by reason of insanity.

The hung jury came after four full days of deliberations in the trial of Charles McCoy Jr., charged with 12 shootings that terrified Columbus-area commuters over five months in 2003 and 2004.

Earlier in the day, jurors told Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Charles Schneider they voted twice on the issue of insanity and could not reach a unanimous decision. He ordered them to continue work but sent them home about an hour later when the panel had again reached an impasse.

The defense admitted McCoy was behind the shootings, as well as about 200 acts of vandalism involving dropping lumber and bags of concrete mix off overpasses.

But his attorneys insisted he did not understand his actions were wrong because he suffered from untreated paranoid schizophrenia.

County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said he would retry McCoy, 29, who could have faced the death penalty if convicted of the most serious charge, aggravated murder, for the one death in the case.

PHOENIX - One of the quintuplets born to a surrogate mother last month has been upgraded to fair condition, hospital officials said.

Javier Moreno was listed in extremely critical condition last week following a six-hour heart surgery on May 2, said Phoenix Children's Hospital spokeswoman Jane Walton.

The quintuplets received international attention after Teresa Anderson - a 25-year-old surrogate mother - delivered the boys on April 26 to a childless couple she met on the Internet.

The other four babies were doing well.

[Last modified May 9, 2005, 01:54:14]