Jurors discuss ‘difficult decision’ as high-profile murder trial in Orange County ends in mistrial

There's still no word on what the split was that prevented jurors from reaching a unanimous decision.

Melanie Palmer

Apr 16, 2025, 10:31 PM

Updated 7 days ago

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A deadlocked jury in a high-profile murder trial in Orange County ends in a mistrial. Some of the jurors tell News 12 this was a very difficult case.
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There's still no word on what the split was that prevented jurors from reaching a unanimous decision.
"Definitely difficult, I'm not going to talk about the split," a juror told News 12 as they were leaving the courthouse.
They sat through two decades of testimony and heard from dozens of witnesses in the Edward Holley trial.
He's accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, Megan McDonald, 22 years ago in the Town of Wallkill.
Jurors started deliberating last Wednesday.
Over the week, they sent 13 notes to the judge, four of those notes said they could not reach a unanimous decision.
On Wednesday morning, the judge asked all the jurors if they believed they could reach a unanimous decision, if they had more time to deliberate. They all said "no."
Read more about what's next in the case here.