The Johnson City Press reported that jurors deliberated for about four hours on Friday before telling the judge they had deadlocked in the case. The trial began Monday in Unicoi County Criminal Court in Erwin.
Harris is being retried on a charge of theft over $1,000 after the jury at his initial trial failed to reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared in August.
Prosecutors said during the trail that Harris ended up in possession of $4,500 in county funds for two vehicles that were donated by Tom and Lynn Colbaugh. Harris contends that the vehicles were purchased and money from their sale was to be used for dog training.
The Colbaughs testified for the prosecution.
After the jury returned without a verdict, Harris expressed sympathy with them.
"Sitting there listening to everything that was said about me, I can understand why a couple of the jurors voted guilty," he said, while maintaining that he did nothing wrong.
"I am not guilty," he said. "I didn't steal one dime from the county."
Prosecutors said they were disappointed in the outcome and weren't sure whether they would try the case again. They have until Jan. 15 to decide.
"We thought, as last time, that we had put on a good amount of evidence that the defendant in this case, Mr. Harris, was guilty of taking this money," District Attorney General Tony Clark said.
He said he would speak to witnesses and county representatives before making a decision.
"I think after trying this one twice and putting on the evidence that we had and the witnesses, I don't see putting the Colbaughs and some of the witnesses through this again, but that's a decision I'd rather talk to them about and talk with the county officials before I make that decision," he said.
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