A jury said it could not reach a unanimous verdict in the murder case of Tyrone Stallworth Tuesday, so Circuit Court Judge Thomas Jones declared a mistrial.

A mistrial means Stallworth would face another trial with a date to be set later.

Appointed prosecutor Ed Green had no comment on the results of the three-day trial as the parents of the shooting victim walked hand-in-hand out of the courtroom.

Defense attorney Craig Maddox seemed pleased with the results.

“Prosecutions rarely get better the second go-round,” he said. “In fact, they tend to deteriorate.”

Stallworth is accused of murder in the Jan. 27, 2004, shooting death of Clinton James Peeples Jr. outside a Voeglin Avenue residence.

Stallworth, dressed in a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt, khakis and khaki jacket, smiled slightly as the judge announced the mistrial.

The defendant will remain under $50,000 bond, but will not be released immediately from jail because there is a probationary hold on him, meaning at some point Stallworth violated the terms of a probation.

Jones will hold another court hearing to decide if the state can continue to hold Stallworth. A date for that hearing has not been set.

The jury was out for more than three hours after hearing the defense wind up its case Wednesday morning.

Stallworth’s mother, Sandra, testified her son was home the night of the shooting, and he was sick with a stomach virus.

During closing arguments, Green told the jury Peeples and his friend, Marcus Edwards, were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Peeples was caught in crossfire — a shootout between rival gangs, the St. Phillip Street Boys and the GWC Homes Boys.

Peeples died when a nine-millimeter slug ripped through his right side, tore his aorta, passed through the right lung into the left lung, exited out his left side and embedded in his left arm.

“Mr. Peeples walked into something not of his making and he got killed for that,” Green said.

The shootout riddled the house on Voeglin Avenue with bullets. Eighteen nine-millimeter slugs were found in the front, according to testimony by a Selma police evidence technician. Police also recovered slugs from a 30.06 rifle and a Russian semi-automatic carbine.

Green told the jury, “When people can’t gather at their home to enjoy their friendship without gangs shooting the house, you know we have problems.”

Defense attorney Maddox told the jury members they took an oath that required them to do justice based on the evidence brought to them, and the prosecution had not produced enough evidence to convict his client.

“Convicting an innocent man does not make Selma a better place; it does not make Selma a safer place,” he said.

Maddox acknowledged a shooting occurred, based on witnesses for the prosecution.

“But they didn’t say who did the shooting,” he added.