GREENFIELD — After a Hancock County jury was unable to reach a verdict on rape and other felony charges against Christopher L. Hargraves, his attorney asked the court Monday to release the defendant.
Judge Scott Sirk, presiding in Hancock County Circuit Court, postponed a decision on the request until Dec. 13 to give prosecutors a chance to summon Hargraves’ accuser to testify.
Prosecutor Brent Eaton told the court the bail review hearing for Hargraves was too soon after the conclusion of his trial on Friday, Dec. 3, during which a jury was unable to reach a verdict on six of the nine charges, including two Felony 1 counts of raping a young woman. Eaton told the court he wanted the woman to come to court testify against the release of Hargraves and asked the court for more time.
The jury of six women and six men convicted Hargraves, 19, of McCordsville, of two drug and gun misdemeanors and a Level 6 felony gun crime. Hargraves has been in jail for over 10 months waiting for his case to make its way through the court system.
Hargraves’ attorney, Jeffrey McClarnon, had asked for Hargraves’ immediate release Friday after the mistrial. He objected to the delay.
Chief deputy prosecutor Aimee Herring, who presented the state’s case during the trial, has not decided whether the prosecutor’s office will refile the six charges of rape, intimidation and confinement against Hargraves. That is expected to be determined at a status conference set for Dec. 16 in Circuit Court.
