Jurors unable to reach verdict in fatal shooting

3/13/2003

The murder trial in Lucas County Common Pleas Court of a man accused in the shooting death last summer of Willie J. McMillan ended yesterday with a hung jury.

The jurors deliberated for about six hours Tuesday evening and about seven hours yesterday in the case of Eugene Blakely, but were unable to determine his guilt or innocence.

Judge Charles Wittenberg released the panel about 4 p.m. and set a pretrial hearing for tomorrow for Blakely, 37, of 524 Austin St.

Mr. McMillan, 35, of Oak Street, was shot about 3:30 a.m. Aug. 29 while sitting in his station wagon in the parking lot of the Weiler Homes in East Toledo. A witness who was in the vehicle identified Blakely as the gunman.