Hung jury results in mistrial for alleged Grundy hit man

After nearly 12 hours of deliberations, a jury could not come to a verdict in the case against a man alleged to be a hit man for a major Indianapolis drug dealer.

Prosecutors, though, say they will retry the case.

Marion Superior Judge Grant Hawkins late Wednesday night ordered a mistrial in the case of John Means, who was standing trial on two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of two men in February 2014.

That means the Marion County prosecutor's office will have to start at the beginning and argue the case in front of a new jury.

Means will appear in court for a hearing Jan. 30. A new trial date has not yet been set.

The 24-year-old man also faces two murder counts in another double homicide also alleged in court documents to be ordered by Richard Grundy III, who police say led a group that trafficked thousands of pounds of marijuana from Phoenix to Indianapolis.

Grundy, though, is no longer charged with conspiracy to commit murder in these four slayings.

Means' case went forward, even after prosecutors dropped the charges against Grundy that accused him of ordering the hits after a key witness failed to appear for depositions and gave a fake name. Grundy still faces a slew of other drug charges.

In October 2015, Marion County prosecutors charged Grundy and 10 associates with drug, conspiracy and gang charges, alleging Grundy led a violent ring of drug traffickers.

Means was one of the first defendants to go to trial. Prosecutors brought a case that hinged on a series of circumstantial evidence they said connected the man to the double shooting, including text messages, a letter and a phone call.

One of the texts from Means read: "I'm about to smoke Juju."

But attorneys sparred on the significance of these messages.

Does that mean Means was going to kill Juju, or smoke marijuana with Juju?

When Means led police on a high-speed chase from an area near where Juju, whose real name is Julius Douglas, was shot and killed 20 minutes earlier, was it a coincidence? Was he actually running because he feared getting caught for a probation violation?

In closing arguments Wednesday, attorneys had dueling interpretations of the evidence prosecutors laid out against Means in the three-day trial that began Monday. Jurors began deliberations in the case late Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors argued that Means is connected to the killings of Douglas and Carlos Jefferson in February 2014 through text messages, a phone call and a letter that point to his guilt. But defense attorney Christopher Michael Eskew argued that the evidence is circumstantial, and up for interpretation.

"They want you to interpret it their way," Eskew said of the messages. "There's nothing there."

Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Ross Anderson, though, argued that Means fled police not because he was afraid of being caught violating his probation, but rather, because he had just shot and killed two people. Means tried to craft explanations and alibis after the fact, Anderson said, pretending that going to "smoke Juju" actually meant smoking with the man.

"He just blasted two people and didn't want to talk to the police," Anderson said. "What are the odds that in the exact same area of town, someone named Juju just got shot."

Call IndyStar reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter: @Mabuckley88.