Houston ? A judge declared a mistrial Friday in the case of a former Texas Southern University president after a jury said it couldn’t decide if she misspent school funds to lavishly decorate her homes.

The jury deliberated for four days in the trial of Priscilla Slade before telling state District Judge Brock Thomas in a note that “to continue deliberating would be of no benefit.” The jurors had told Thomas in three previous notes that they were deadlocked.

Slade was president of TSU, the state’s largest historically black university, for more than six years. She could have been sentenced to life in prison if convicted of misapplication of fiduciary property with a value over $200,000, though the jury could have opted for a lesser charge.