By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A mistrial was declared in the sentencing phase of Ian Mitcham, who was convicted last month of sexually assaulting and murdering Allison Feldman at her Scottsdale home in 2015.
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The jury could not come to a decision on sentencing for first-degree murder, so the judge dismissed them.
They were tasked with deciding whether Mitcham should be sentenced to death or life in prison.
A judge will impose punishment on counts two and three, sexual assault and second-degree burglary, Thursday morning.
It is unclear whether prosecutors will seek another jury for the first-degree murder sentencing.
The jury reached an impasse Wednesday, and the judge was notified. Jurors were later called back into the courtroom during a hearing early Wednesday afternoon, and the judge instructed them to resume deliberations.
The developments come a day after the jury was instructed to start their deliberations over due to a comment made by one of the jurors. That juror was dismissed, and an alternate was called in before deliberations restarted at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
What the juror said is not known.
Mitcham’s conviction
Closing arguments were completed last week in the sentencing phase of Mitcham’s trial.
On April 9, Mitcham was convicted of murdering and sexually assaulting Feldman, whose death remained unsolved for years before investigators said DNA evidence connected him to the crime.
Police and Feldman’s family said there is no known connection between Feldman and Mitcham and no known motive. Prosecutors argued the attack was a crime of opportunity, tied to Mitcham’s life circumstances at the time.
During the trial, prosecutors described Mitcham as down on his luck, angry, drinking too much and feeling as though he had nothing left to lose. They said DNA evidence tied him to the scene.
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Mitcham and his defense attorney maintain he is innocent and argue that investigators failed to fully pursue another possible suspect.
Joshua Kolsrud, a criminal defense attorney not affiliated with the case, said remorse, or lack thereof, could play a role in sentencing.
“If I were Ian Mitcham’s attorney, I would certainly have my client show remorse to the victim’s family, to the court, the prosecutor,” Kolsrud said. “And you can show remorse without admitting guilt in the case. Because, again, you want to preserve the actual innocence argument later on when this case is appealed.”
DNA evidence and legal precedent
Investigators found partial DNA at the scene in 2015, but there was no direct match to anyone in the system. The case went cold until 2018, when Scottsdale police ran a familial DNA test that identified an Arizona prison inmate as a close relative to the murder suspect.
The trail led to his brother, Ian Mitcham, whose blood was already in the Scottsdale police vault from a DUI investigation.
A judge ruled that DUI DNA should not be used because it was not destroyed three months after his arrest, violating his rights. The prosecution appealed, and the case went to the Arizona Supreme Court.
Justices decided that keeping the evidence violated Mitcham’s Fourth Amendment rights. But the justices said police would have discovered the DNA evidence through other lawful means untainted by the illegal search after Mitcham was arrested for different crimes.
Kolsrud said that precedent will be used in future cases.
“This is an important case for precedential reasons, because it’s the first case in Arizona where familial DNA led to the apprehension and charges of a defendant, a cold case,” Kolsrud said. “And now, you know, both defense attorneys and prosecutors alike are going to have a roadmap as to what the admissible evidence is in similar situations.”
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