SECOND MISTRIAL IS DECLARED IN SIKESTON MURDER CASE

JACKSON, Mo. -- A murder trial has been cut short for the second time by a mistrial, a Cape Girardeau judge said.

The prosecutor, defense attorney and judge all agreed that it was better to end the trial of 20-year-old Darius Nicholson on Tuesday after a question of conflict of interest by Nicholson's attorney was raised, Circuit Judge John Grimm said.

A motion had been filed by special prosecutor Marvin Teer of the attorney general's office on Friday questioning Kent Hall's representation of Nicholson, of Columbia, Mo. The motion noted that state's witness Michael Hatcher of Sikeston, Mo., and Nicholson had at one point both been represented by attorneys in the Jackson public defender's office.

"The more we discussed it, the attorneys on both sides and I agreed that it was best to take the matter out of court for now," Grimm said.

Nicholson is on trial for the June 1998 murder of a gas station attendant in Sikeston that occurred during a robbery. Hatcher had negotiated a plea bargain with prosecutors in exchange for his testimony against Nicholson and two other accomplices.

Nicholson was tried during more than three days of hearings in June. But a mistrial was declared after the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on charges of first degree murder, robbery or armed criminal action after nearly nine hours of deliberations.

Typically, the public defender's office is immune from conflict of interest problems involving two clients represented by attorneys from the same office, Hall said.

The problem is usually resolved by handing off the less difficult of two cases to another public defender's jurisdiction, Hall said.

In the case of Nicholson and Hatcher, Hatcher's case was turned over to public defender Wade Schuster of Poplar Bluff, Mo., in 1998, Hall said.

"The state Supreme Court has authorized the public defenders office to settle conflict of interest matters in house," he said.

Grimm said that he did not actually rule on Teer's motion to disqualify the defense attorney.

Grimm had begun discussing the motion with the attorneys by phone last Friday, and had continued to talk once the trial began on Monday.

"It's important that everybody's rights be protected, considering the serious nature of the case," Grimm said.

Now an independent attorney will be appointed to advise Nicholson about the conflict of interest issue. A hearing scheduled for Oct. 6 in Benton, Mo., will give Nicholson the opportunity to either select a new defense attorney or waive the conflict and proceed with Hall, Grimm said.

A new, third trial has tentatively been scheduled for Dec. 11.

Hall expressed some surprise about the conflict of interest motion.

"It's coming up two and a half years later," Hall said. "Until now, it hasn't been an issue."