By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A Lewis County jury deadlocked on whether 47-year-old Lauri Spangler committed a crime in connection with what police said was a medical marijuana dispensary they raided two years ago shortly after it opened in downtown Centralia.
Spangler was the only one of four individuals in the case to go to trial. The others’ cases are already settled with plea agreements.
She was charged with maintaining a premises for using controlled substances, but her attorney told jurors last week all she did was get the business license and set up the checking account for her boyfriend Colby Cave.
Hub City Natural Medicine opened on Tower Avenue in early 2011 with a city-granted business license which the city said accidentally slid below its radar.
Jurors deliberated about five hours following the two-day trial last week in Lewis County Superior Court.
Lewis County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said jurors didn’t stick around on Friday to talk so that he or the defense attorney might learn what their issues were.
However, documents now available in the court file offer some clues.
Jurors sent a question to the judge on Friday after lunch, asking for the definition of “knowingly”.
The judge’s written answer delivered back to the jury room essentially said he couldn’t answer that, they should refer to their jury instructions.
Within a half an hour, jurors sent out another note, informing the judge they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Nelson Hunt queried them individually in open court, asking if they were certain they couldn’t reach a unanimous decision in a reasonable amount of time.
The jurors were all in agreement that they couldn’t reach an agreement.
The judge declared a mistrial.
Meagher said today he hasn’t made a decision on whether to retry Spangler, however, on Thursday he will go ahead and schedule another trial.
“We’ll make our formal decision later,” he said.
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For background, read “Centralia marijuana store case goes to trial” from Wednesday May 15, 2013, here [1]