Pratt ? A former county prosecutor accused of pocketing money intended for a traffic ticket account faces a new trial next year after jurors deadlocked at his first trial.

Tom Black, who accepted a suspension as Pratt County attorney in November, was charged with 14 felony counts of misusing public funds.

The charges were filed after the Kansas Bureau of Investigation found that from late 2002 to late 2003, about $4,000 in checks and money orders was never deposited into a traffic diversion account that Black had created in 1997.

Jurors in Pratt County District Court deliberated for several hours Monday and Tuesday before telling Senior Judge Michael Barbara there was no chance of reaching a unanimous verdict. Barbara declared a mistrial and scheduled a new trial for April 4.

Black testified last week that he had begun keeping large amounts of cash in 1997 after reading of fears that banks’ computers might crash on Jan. 1, 2000. When such a crash failed to occur, Black testified, he started using the cash to pay some bills.

Black said he stopped using the cash in late 2003 after learning of a state investigation. He said he gave the remaining cash to the county treasurer, who testified she had no record of receiving the money.