BATESVILLE, Miss. — Court will be back in session Monday in the trial of a Mississippi man charged in the 2014 burning death of a woman.
Jurors deliberated more than four hours Sunday before the judge sent the sequestered group back to their hotel for the night.
Quinton Tellis is charged with capital murder in the death of 19-year-old Jessica Chambers. Defense attorneys argued that the wrong man is on trial.
Firefighters testified Chambers told them someone named “Eric” or “Derek” set her on fire. Some first responders said Chambers looked like a “zombie,” with burned skin and hair, when she walked from a wooded area in Courtland, Mississippi, on Dec. 6, 2014. She died hours later.
District Attorney John Champion said Chambers’ throat was severely damaged and she could not pronounce the letter T. He said she could have been trying to say “Tellis.”
► ARCHIVE: Complete coverage of the Jessica Chambers trial
