According to a report published Tuesday afternoon, a mistrial has been declared in an Oak Grove homicide case that was labeled by many in the community as an act of self-defense.

On the night of May 8, 2023, Keith Sullivan shot Greg Bagwell after the latter was found on Sullivan’s porch at 2 a.m. in the morning. Sullivan, who has claimed self-defense under Alabama’s Stand Your Ground law, has said that he believed Bagwell could have been armed and dangerous at the time, leading to the fatal shooting. Sullivan’s defense team told the jury that Bagwell was a documented arsonist and drug addict, known for unpredictable behavior, including shooting into neighbors’ homes.

“It’s as clear cut a case of Stand Your Ground as any I have ever seen,” said Sullivan’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff, who also represented embattled New Yorker Daniel Penny. “I really don’t have an answer as to why Mr Sullivan is being prosecuted. In Danny’s case, he acted to protect subway passengers who were strangers; in Mr Sullivan’s case, it was his wife and teenage daughter. The law obviously applies in the same way in both cases, but the motivations are to protect.”

According to Kenniff, Alabama is one of the last places he would expect such a trial.

“In New York, we see liberal prosecutors and judges who don’t really value self-defense the way they do in Alabama, so it is surprising to me,” he said.

Today, as the trial entered its seventh day, jurors wrote a note to the presiding judge explaining that they were “hopelessly deadlocked.” After receiving the information, the judge met with the jurors and shortly thereafter declared the mistrial.

A previous bond for Bagwell in an unrelated case had been revoked three days before he was killed.

Austen Shipley is the News Director for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten