After a day of deliberations, jury has yet to reach a verdict in teen’s murder trial

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Derrick Del Reed during his murder trial on March 11, 2024, in Douglas County District Court.

After spending all of Tuesday deliberating, a Douglas County jury has not yet reached a verdict in the case of an 18-year-old who’s accused of fatally shooting another teen.

Derrick Del Reed, 18, of Lawrence, has been on trial for the past week in the March 18, 2023, shooting death of 14-year-old Kamarjay Shaw in the 1300 block of Maple Lane. Reed is charged with first-degree murder, but the jury was given several alternatives to consider as well, including reckless second-degree murder, intentional second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.

During its deliberations on Tuesday, the jury requested to view video evidence in different formats, and around midday jurors had a piece of testimony read back to them — an account from a neighbor of Reed’s who told police on the day of the shooting that she saw a light skinned African American man fire a gun. The woman also testified that she no longer actually remembered seeing someone fire a gun.

The jury will resume deliberations at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. It is made up of eight women and four men.

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