DETROIT — A high-profile Flint water crisis trial against two private engineering companies ended Thursday with a hung jury, a development that experts say makes a settlement less likely in the near future but lets the opposing attorneys learn lessons from the five-month-long case.
Eastern District of Michigan U.S. District Court magistrate judge David Grand declared the mistrial after receiving a note from the eight-member jury saying they did not believe they could deliver a verdict without putting the mental and physical health of the one holdout juror in jeopardy.
“Further deliberations will only result in stress and anxiety, with no unanimous decision, without someone having to surrender their honest convictions solely for the purpose of returning a verdict,” the note read.
