The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Local News

September 25, 2009

Bordeaux jury knotted; retrial Dec. 7

T. J. ROYAL

A mistrial was declared Thursday in the first-degree murder case of Bobby Ray Bordeaux Jr. after the jury could not reach a unanimous agreement on a conviction.

Bordeaux allegedly shot and killed 44-year-old Clifton Jackson outside of the Hogs Pen Pub near Macclesfield on Aug. 31, 2008.

However, he was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, for shooting John Warlick, 50, at the bar that night. Bordeaux shot Warlick in the side with a .22-caliber revolver, after also allegedly shooting Jackson in the back of the head at close range.

Superior Court Judge Cy A. Grant sentenced Bordeaux to 25-39 months in jail on the assault conviction, with credit for the year he's already served in the Edgecombe County Detention Center awaiting this week's trial.

A retrial on the first-degree murder charge is scheduled for Dec. 7.

After the verdict was read Thursday, Deanna Warlick, John's wife, said the assault conviction was "not as much as I would've liked to have seen.

"But it's better than not guilty," she added.

Jackson's family, including his father Troy, his sister and two brothers, attended the trial all week, but did not comment after the judge's decision was announced.

Bordeaux's family, including his wife Robin, their three daughters, as well as his brothers Eddie and Alan, attended the trial all week and did not comment Thursday.

On the assault charge, the jury also could have convicted Bordeaux of a more severe one, assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill and inflicting serious injury, or a lesser charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

On the first-degree murder charge, Grant asked the jury forewoman, Eunis Rogers, after they deliberated for around nine hours Wednesday and Thursday, if they had become "hopelessly deadlocked" with no chance for a resolution on Thursday.

After Rogers looked over to another juror, who motioned that no unanimous agreement could be arranged by the jury Thursday, the forewoman answered "yes."

Rogers said the jury remained in a 10-2 deadlock, the majority in favor of convicting Bordeaux of first-degree murder, the other two favoring a second-degree murder conviction.

A first-degree murder conviction would have been reached if the jury felt the shooting death was premeditated and deliberated by Bordeaux. A second-degree murder conviction would have found he either did not premeditate or deliberate his actions, or was incapable of doing so.

After the judge announced his decision Thursday, Senior Assistant District Attorney Steve Graham said that "it happens" that mistrials occur in high-level murder cases.

"The state is prepared to go forward on Dec. 7," Graham added, and argue again that Bordeaux is guilty of committing first-degree murder in Jackson's death.

During testimony, Bordeaux himself did not dispute that he pulled the trigger on Jackson and Warlick. He did tell the jury that, because of his history of "black outs" from his alcoholism, coupled with his major depressive mental disorder, he could not remember actually shooting them both at the bar.

Edgecombe County Sheriff's Sgt. Gene Harrell testified Monday that Bordeaux had been too intoxicated that night for police to question him about the incident.

Bordeaux's wife testified there were several times when Bobby would be drinking and not remember times where he had hurt himself during those episodes. A forensic psychiatrist from Cary also testified that, after she examined Bordeaux's medical records and interviewed him this year, that he did not have the mental capacity to premeditate killing Jackson or severely injuring Warlick last August.

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