Hung jury: Alleged killer could walk free

Georgia’s Prime Minister is lashing out at the country’s current jury system, saying it needs to be completely overhauled after jurors failed to reach a verdict in a highly discussed murder case.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said Georgia’s jury system had completely failed after 12 jurors failed to reach a majority verdict regarding the guilt of Giorgi Okropiridze at Tbilisi City Court on Friday.

"We have witnessed a complete failure of this institute. And we are obliged to overview it and fill up the gaps,” Garibashvili said.

He added the victim’s family had a legitimate request for the alleged murderer to be punished. "It’s the state who is in charge of fulfilling this request,” he said.

Okropiridze faced murder charges for allegedly killing 25-year-old Lasha Makharadze last year.

Six years earlier Okropiridze was convicted of murdering his friend, and with other crimes, was sentenced to 13 years behind bars. He served four years in prison but was pardoned by President Giorgi Margvelashvili after he was allegedly mistreated behind bars during the previous government.

On Friday 12 jurors spent 12 hours deliberating the 2014 murder of Makharadze, who died of gunshot wounds in one of Tbilisi’s central streets. The judge then gave jurors another hour to deliberate but they again failed to come to a majority consensus.

At least eight votes were needed to decide whether Okropiridze was guilty or not however neither of these two choices gained enough votes.

The Court then relieved the jury of their duties and set June 10 as the new date when court officials would select another jury.

Meanwhile on June 11 Okropiridze will have served nine months behind bars. According to Georgian law once a suspect has served nine months in pre-trial detention they must be released if the Court has not reached a decision on the suspect’s guilt.

Meanwhile today Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office filed additional charges against Okropiridze.

In a statement the Office said new false testimony charges filed against Okropiridze were connected to the September 2014 incident, when Okropiridze told the Public Defender’s Office that he was physically abused in jail.

The Prosecutor’s Office said an investigation was launched into his complaint at the time, which revealed Okropiridze was about to be transferred to another prison. Okropiridze did not want to be moved so he told prison staff he would commit an act of self-harm and would convince the Ombudsman he had been ill-treated in prison if he was transferred to another jail.

"Taking into account the suspect’s personality, also the risk of him going into hiding and his previous conviction, in order to prevent possible future crime and influencing witnesses, the Prosecutor’s Office will soon ask the Court for pre-trail detention as a preventive measure for Okropiridze,” the Office said.

If the Court does not meet the Prosecutor’s Office request, Okropiridze will be out of jail in several days – something a portion of society was strongly against as they believed Okropiridze was a danger to society.

Meanwhile if the Court upholds the Prosecutor’s Office request, Okropiridze will remain in jail for longer than the nine-month threshold – something his lawyer believed was unfair.

Georgia adopted jury trials in 2010 and since then about a dozen cases have been discussed by juries. After the recent controversial case, some have begun talking about the disadvantages of this type of court process.