Hung jury for suspect in deaths of Fla. couple

PENSACOLA, Fla. – A murder trial for a man accused in the deaths of a wealthy Florida couple with nine special needs children has ended in a hung jury.

Circuit Judge Nick Geeker sent jurors home around 11 p.m. Thursday following nine hours of deliberations in the case of 29-year-old Donnie Stallworth. The trial began Monday and Stallworth is the third suspect in the July 2009 deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings.

Thirty-seven-year-old Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. was sentenced to death for shooting the couple in front of their adopted children. A co-conspirator pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for his role in the botched robbery and killings.

Stallworth did not testify and his attorneys did not present witnesses.

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Information from: Pensacola News Journal, http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com