By Bill Lindelof:
blindelof@sacbee.com
A Placer County jury has acquitted a 28-year-old Granite Bay man of first-degree murder in the death of his childhood friend.
It was the third time that Caleb John Madsen has been tried for the 2005 stabbing death of his friend, 23-year-old Christopher Worth of Granite Bay.
In addition to the acquittal on the first-degree charge, the jury unable to break a 6-6 deadlock on whether to convict Madsen on a charge of second-degree murder. The Placer County District Attorney's office could re-file against Madsen on the second-degree murder charge.
In the first trial in 2008, jurors voted 7-5 to convict on the first-degree charge. In 2009, jurors were split 10-2 to convict, leading to another mistrial being declared and setting up the most recent trial.
Authorities have said Madsen and Worth were drinking the night of July 9, 2005, in the Madsen home on Bella Vista Drive when Madsen's sister, Amber Howes, showed up with family and friends to swim and ride ATVs.
Howes said she arrived at her parents' house about 9:15 p.m. and saw Worth's truck and her brother's vehicle on the property. When the party ended about 12:15 a.m., the vehicles were still there, but no one saw Caleb Madsen or Worth.
Worth's body and truck were found a day later in a field off Cavitt Stallman Road.
Madsen's attorney at the first trial said Madsen denied killing Worth and submitted that there is no evidence he committed the crime.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Jeff Wilson, co-prosecutor in the latest trial, said his office will review the case. A decision will be made Monday on whether to pursue it further, a district attorney press release states.
Placer County Superior Court Judge Robert P. McElhany set a hearing for Monday. McElhany presided over the two-month trial.
Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.
Previous coverage:
Placer DA to seek third trial for Granite Bay man in friend's killing - March 27, 2009
Another jury deadlocks in Placer County murder case - March 13, 2009
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.