An Arizona jury has been dismissed after the jurors reported they could not reach a unanimous decision on whether a Hawaii prisoner should be executed for a 2010 murder in that state.

The jury in December convicted Miti Maugaotega Jr. of first-degree murder for the killing of 26-year-old Bronson Nunuha in the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona, but was unable to agree on whether Maugaotega should be sentenced to death for the crime.

Both Maugaotega and Nunuha were sentenced to prison in Hawaii, and were both serving their sentences in the privately run Saguaro facility when Nunuha was killed. Hawaii holds about 1,000 inmates at Saguaro because there is no room for them in Hawaii correctional facilities.

Hawaii abolished the death penalty in 1954, but Arizona continues the practice and executed three prisoners last year. Maugaotega was subject to Arizona law because he committed the murder in that state.

Maugaotega confessed to police that he attacked Nunuha in his cell, and an autopsy report showed that Nunuha had been stabbed more than 150 times. Maugaotega, a leader in the USO Family prison gang, also told police he carved the letters “USO” in Nunuha’s chest.

The jury concluded in December that Maugaotega qualified for the death penalty because the murder was “especially cruel,” but deadlocked Wednesday after more than four days of deliberations on the issue of whether to actually impose that sentence.

Under Arizona law the Pinal County Attorney’s office can again seek the death penalty for Maugaotega with a new jury. If not, the judge would hand down a life sentence. Pinal County Attorney Public Information Officer Michael Pelton declined to comment on the case.

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