They were accused of the chilling murder of an American woman inside her home on the Hummingbird Highway in July of 2004. But after 5 hours of deliberations, late this evening a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict against 21-year-old Rene Lopez Morantes and 38-year-old Carlos Rene Granillo for murder. But they did convict Granillo for burglary and Morantes for aggravated burglary. The jury's decision came in just before 6 pm after 5 hours of deliberations.
The American they are charged for murdering is 73-year-old Mary Jane Blondell. The allegation is that on July 25th of 2004 the two men entered Blondell's home located on her secluded farm on the Hummingbird Highway to burglarize it. Blondell was inside and police allege she was raped and stabbed to the throat. Her body was found buried in a shallow grave about 2 hundred yards from her house.
The only item found missing from her house was a gold chain.
Granillo and Morantes originally confessed to police but in separate statements from the dock during trial, both men said those confessions were beaten out of them.
They will be sentenced next week Friday.
Granillo who is originally from Salvador was represented by Linsbert Willis. Morantes is originally from Guatemala and his attorney was Hubert Elrington.
