Mistrial for Ishpeming woman accused of murder and arson
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MARQUETTE -- A mistrial has been declared for an Ishpeming woman accused of deliberately setting the fire that killed the man with whom she shared a home.
Marquette County Circuit Judge Andrew Griffin ruled the Julie Boxley trial a mistrial about 2 p.m. Eastern time Thursday after the jury remained split 6-6 despite more than 17 hours of deliberation over three days.
Boxley was charged with one count of felony murder and one count of first-degree arson after Glenn Andrews later died from injuries from a house fire March 5, 2023.
The mistrial was declared after the jury came back three separate times saying they were "hopelessly deadlocked"; first on Wednesday at about 3 p.m., then Thursday at approximately 10:15 a.m., and a final time on Thursday at approximately 2 p.m.
Griffin said he was not inclined to send the jury back for a third time to continue deliberating out of concern about potentially coercing them into going against their held beliefs in order to come to a consensus.
"At the end of the day, neither case was compelling enough to sway the jury to 100 percent," said one juror, speaking after the mistrial ruling. "...This is very unfortunate, but at the same time, I also look at it as it's part of our justice system … it will be tried again, and we'll see if there’s a different outcome.
"The jurors gave it 100 percent. I can feel strongly about that … a mountain of information was poured over … instructions were utilized, and even after all that, we still weren’t able to achieve a 100% vote.”
“I’m a little frustrated,” said chief public defender Patrick Crowley, who represented Boxley in the trial. “Obviously, a lot of effort went in by both sides. I’m frustrated when … all of that work goes by the wayside, and quite frankly, the most frustrating portion is that my client (Boxley) is going to remain incarcerated pending another trial.”
Boxley was visibly tearful in the courtroom after the mistrial ruling.
“She’s been sitting in jail for three years now,” Crowley said. “We absolutely maintain that Julie Boxley is innocent.”
The jury’s lack of a consensus could have related to the lack of concrete evidence in the case. Both Andrews’ manner of death and the cause of the fire were ruled undetermined. Instead, prosecution relied on inconsistencies in Boxley’s statements, her relative lack of injuries and other fires that have occurred around Boxley, including ones she was accused of setting, as circumstantial evidence to convince the jury of Boxley’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Undetermined cause of fire is, in my estimation, the literal definition of reasonable doubt,” Crowley said. “If you can’t tell me how a fire was started, you certainly can’t tell me that (an) individual human being started it, and you certainly, then, therefore, can’t tell me that Julie Boxley started it.
“I think that it being indeterminate should have been almost the beginning and the end of this case.”
The defense team attempted twice to convince the judge to render a verdict of acquittal, first on Monday and again on Thursday. Both of these requests were denied by Griffin.
“Basically, that’s a motion saying, 'Judge, what you heard, even if you believe … everything the prosecution said, (it) still isn’t sufficient to convict our client,'" said Crowley. “Unfortunately, that was denied.”
Crowley estimates that it could be months before Boxley’s case is tried again in court.
“Right now, the prosecution, after a week and a half long trial, was clearly not able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Julie Boxley is guilty of anything,” Crowley said. “... Unfortunately, we’re not where we need to be yet. And so I’m sure that my defense team … (will) file a motion to ask the judge to reconsider bond. Quite frankly, I think (Boxley) needs to be released from jail.”
The prosecution declined to comment.
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Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550, or alippert@miningjournal.net.