A judge declared a mistrial Friday night in the murder-for-hire case against Waco attorney Seth Sutton, with the jury remaining deadlocked after 12 hours of deliberation.

Jury deliberations started at about 10 a.m. Friday, and by 5 p.m., Visiting Judge Roy Sparkman ordered the divided jury of 10 men and two women to continue its efforts, and delivered instructions on the importance of reaching a unanimous verdict. But shortly after 10 p.m., the jury foreman told Sparkman the group remained divided with strongly held views in favor of both innocence and guilt that would not be reconciled with further discussions, prompting the mistrial.

Sutton's trial in Waco's 19th State District Court started Monday, with testimony running Tuesday through Thursday and closing arguments delivered Friday morning. Prosecutors accuse Sutton of soliciting an undercover detective May 14, 2020, to kill Marcus Beaudin, who has since been indicted on an attempted indecency with a child charge involving a family member of Sutton.

The decision to dismiss charges or retry the case now rests with appointed prosecutors from the Texas Attorney General's Office.

In closing arguments Friday morning, Patrick Sloane, the case's lead prosecutor from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, described audio recordings the detective made of Sutton and Chelsea Tijerina, Beaudin’s ex-wife, talking about ways to kill Beaudin with the detective, who had infiltrated Sutton’s local motorcycle club, the Red Mouse Cult. Tijerina died following a Hays County motorcycle wreck in 2021.

The Tribune-Herald is withholding the name of the detective to protect his identity for future investigations.

Sloane also said Sutton talked on other recordings about ways to frame three innocent men for Beaudin’s murder, which was not carried out. The jury also heard how Sutton paid the detective for the purchase of a handgun, bullets and gas.

Sutton’s defense attorney, Clint Broden, said in his closing summation that Sutton learned on April 29, 2020, that Beaudin had touched his family member in sexual way while she was a teenager and that Sutton was a “secondary victim” himself.

It was the detective who pursued contact with Sutton, Broden said. The detective, not Sutton, brought up Beaudin in conversation on the recordings, and on the recordings, the detective volunteered to kill him, without ever being asked, told or offered anything in exchange to do the killing, he said.

Broden also said the detective did not have recordings of the May 14 conversation, in which the detective said Sutton talked about three ways he wanted to kill Beaudin himself, because the detective had been pulled off of his investigation of Sutton’s motorcycle club three days prior.

The detective was placed back on the investigation after reporting the May 14 conversation to his superiors, officials testified.

The jury also heard that prior to his arrest on May 22, 2020, Sutton had not set a time for killing Beaudin and had even said he would let his family member have their day in court for what Beaudin is accused of doing to her.

"I believe those jurors who wanted to acquit Mr. Sutton are the ones who got it right. Yet, we respect the convictions of all the jurors," Broden said Friday night after the mistrial was declared. "I believe this deadlocked jury sends a message that overreach by rogue detectives should not be tolerated."

Prosecutors declined comment after the mistrial.