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Jury deadlocked, court declares mistrial in murder trial of beloved J's Place chef

Posted at 11:44 AM, Mar 22, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-22 20:46:15-04

The jury is deadlocked and a mistrial has been declared in the murder trial of beloved J's Place chef, Ray Ingram.

According to the District Attorney's Office, the jury is deadlocked and the court has declared a mistrial on all counts as the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

According to a source close to the case, a mistrial was declared due to juror obstruction. Both prosecutor John Allen and Michaele Bowers' defense attorney David A. Torres denied juror obstruction was a factor.

The D.A's Office says the jury was excused at 11:13 a.m.

The case was sent into the hands of the jury on March 20.

Prosecutors say the murder took place two years ago on February 22, 2017, when the beloved J's Place Chef, Ray Ingram was shot and killed.

Ingram was shot and killed at a home in South Bakersfield and Bowers, Ingram's girlfriend of 25 years, was arrested in connection to his death.

In opening statements, the prosecution said "this is domestic violence that is at its absolute worst and violent consequences."

March 19, closing statements began . The prosecution went first, opening saying this is a domestic violence case. The prosecution then mapped out the timeline of Bowers and Ingram's relationship leading up to the morning of the killing, describing Bowers as "ambushing" Ingram when she shot him. The prosecution spoke for an hour and a half.

The defense then began their closing statements, opening with a video of Torres narrating Bowers' account of the morning of the killing. Bowers claimed the two yelled expletives at each other, with Ingram yelling "I'm going to kill you, bitch." The defense then saying she accidentally pulled the trigger and this is a situation of self defense.

BACKGROUND:
Court documents show that Bowers and Ingram had a child together and Bowers found out Ingram had been seeing another woman. Documents also showed that he had a child with the other woman as well.

The morning of the killing, police said that Bowers texted Ingram a picture of a receipt showing he had purchased two sets of Valentine's gifts, essentially the same gift for each woman.

Documents show that Bowers shot Ingram one time in the neck and then proceeded to call police on herself.

The first day of the trial, three people took the stand. The first was the Bakersfield Police Department dispatcher who took the initial 911 call. The second was Bakersfield Police Officer Aaron Salinas, who was the first officer to respond to the scene. The third was a police lab technician who collected evidence from the crime scene.

Salinas testified that said when he responded, he walked up to the house and knocked on the door. Initially no one answered and he began to look around the outside of the home. When he returned to the front door he said Michaele Bowers was standing in the doorway.

He said she finally opened the screen door and started to talk to him saying that she told him, "I just shot my children's father."

The defense is expected to finish closing statements on Wednesday, March 20 at 9:15 a.m. The prosecution will then be able to give a rebuttal, then the jury will deliberate.