After deliberating for more than seven hours, West Baton Rouge Judge Tonya Lurry declared a hung jury in the case of Ronald Dwayne Campbell.
A hung jury means the jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict in the second degree murder trial for Campbell.
It was Sept. 18, 2021 around 1:45am when Trey Allen was shot in the Raxx Bar & Grill parking lot on Hwy. 190 in Erwinville. Allen was transported to a hospital but died of his injuries.
Campbell was arrested and charged with second degree murder. He was 17 at the time of the killing, but a hearing was held on Sept. 20th to charge him as an adult.
It’s why Campbell was tried as an adult.
Jury selection started Tuesday, Aug. 16th in West Baton Rouge Parish with the trial kicking off the next day.
By 2pm on Thursday, Aug. 18th, the jury was deliberating. Around 3:30pm, the jurors came back asking for clarification between manslaughter and second degree murder. They deliberated until around 9pm, when Judge Lurry declared a hung jury.
That means there will be a new trial with new jurors on Nov. 14, 2022. Meanwhile, Campbell will remain in prison.
Manslaughter carries a sentence of anywhere between 0-40 years behind bars while second degree murder is a mandatory life in prison sentence.
Because those involved in the Raxx incident were minors, WBR District Attorney Tony Clayton called for a full investigation into the management of Raxx after the incident.
“If laws were broken and minors were allowed in, I want a full blown investigation into who is allowing that from the management front and who’s ID’ing at the door, if anyone. If we find that laws were indeed broken, arrests will follow,” said Clayton.
It’s why a month later on Oct. 14, 2021, WBR parish officials revoked Raxx’ liquor license permanently effectively immediately.
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