MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — A judge has ordered a jury to return to deliberations today (Thursday) in the case of an Iowa woman accused of killing of her former boyfriend in 1992. The Muscatine Journal reports that the jury leader told the judge Wednesday that the jury was having difficulty reaching a unanimous verdict in the murder case against Annette Cahill. Prosecutors say she used a baseball bat to kill 22-year-old Corey Lee Wieneke, whose body was found in October 1992 on his bedroom floor in rural West Liberty.
Judge Patrick McElyea sent the jury members back to the jury room, and he conferred with lawyers for both sides. He had the jury members returned to the courtroom and asked them to return Thursday morning and “continue to engage in open-minded discussion and persuasion.” A witness came forward in 2017, saying Cahill had implicated herself in the death in 1992, prompting authorities to re-examine the case. Cahill is now a mother of three adult children and a grandmother.
Cahill’s first trial ended in a mistrial in March 2019 when that jury couldn’t reach a verdict.