With the jury split 8-4 Wednesday, Judge Forrest “Al” Johnson ordered deliberations to continue again today on the murder trial of Larry Jackson Jr.

The jury deliberated for more than an hour and a half before they sent a note to the judge saying they could not agree.

“It has been a long day,” Johnson said. “Such a serious matter needs to be given due deliberation. I don’t want to push you to a verdict when you’re tired.”

Court was recessed until 9 a.m. today.

Jackson is charged with being involved in the murder of Marshall “Mark” Brown, found in his RV parked in front of a friend’s auto shop, in March 2005. Jackson’s mother, Patsy Jackson, and Bobby Beard have been charged in connection with the murder, but only Jackson was on trial Tuesday and Wednesday.

Jackson was stoic through most of Wednesday’s proceedings, but he occasionally smiled and laughed and played tic-tac-toe with one of his attorneys.

According to Johnson, Jackson didn’t have to be the one who actually slit Brown’s throat to be charged with murder, just closely involved in the murder.

Adams County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Jody Waldrop, lead investigator in the case, was on the stand for more than three hours Wednesday. Both sides asked him questions about the facts of the case and the procedure used to investigate it.

While there was no physical evidence, changes in Jackson’s story over time, Jackson’s whereabouts the night of the murder, a missing shirt Jackson allegedly wore the night of the murder and other clues pointed detectives to Jackson as a suspect, they said.

Receipts were found in Brown’s RV that showed Brown had rented several movies the day of his death, but Jackson originally said he saw one of those movies at Brown’s the day before Brown’s death.

Jackson later changed his story after he was told he couldn’t have watched the movie that day.

Jackson, who reportedly used Brown’s phone often, said in an ACSO statement that he went to Brown’s to use his phone to try to call Jackson’s mother’s boyfriend.

Phone records from that day indicated no calls were placed to that number.

The cordless phone that the auto shop’s owner let Brown use after hours was never found, ACSO deputies testified.

The jury also heard testimony from Jackson’s ex-girlfriend, Betty Lou “Lulu” Laird, who said she was Brown’s best friend.

Some weeks after the murder, Laird said, she was at a party with Jackson, his mother Patsy, and others.

“Patsy was really nervous and looked like she had lost weight,” Laird said.

“When I asked her about it, she made a comment that investigators had been questioning her and Larry. Patsy made the comment, saying she saw Larry and Bobby Beard washing blood off their hands in her sink the night of the murder.”

Larry Jackson told his mother to “shut up,” Laird said, and that was the end of the discussion.

Testimony about the topic coming up again in a later conversation was disallowed by the judge.

Witnesses for the defense later testified against Laird, insinuating that she was an unreliable source.

Michael Johnson, Jackson’s cellmate for some time and a previous acquaintance, testified that Jackson had told him he was at Brown’s RV the night of the murder.

“Larry told me that he and Bobby Beard were inside at Mark Brown’s the night of the murder,” Johnson said.

“I asked how he was killed, and he pointed at his neck to show it was cut.”

Johnson said Jackson told him later about other details of the incident.

In his closing argument, defense attorney Bradley Hayes said Johnson’s story matched too neatly with the sheriff’s reports.

ACSO Investigator Robert Brown interviewed Jackson once and testified Wednesday on the conversation.

He said he asked Jackson why he didn’t go to check on Mark Brown when he saw the coroner’s and law enforcement vehicles. Investigator Brown said Jackson said he had a ticket for something else and was afraid of the law enforcement.

“I said, if he was your friend, why did you not go check on him?” Brown said. “He did this,” Brown said placing his hands on the tabletop, half-standing up and leaning forward. “He said, ‘That mother —- wasn’t one of my friends.’”

In his closing arguments, Hayes suggested the time lapse between the time Brown was killed and the time Jackson was arrested was indicative of a weak case against his client.

He also suggested the sheriff’s office had fabricated the case.

District Attorney Ronnie Harper said he was outraged that Hayes would make such a claim.

“What appalls me is what he said about our men in uniforms back here,” Harper said. “These guys have got plenty to do. They don’t have to go out and frame people for murder.”

Earlier in their questioning, the defense asked a witness if the fact that the case was brought to trial now was because it was election year.

The answer was an emphatic no and outraged comments from the victim’s family and from deputies in the room. Johnson upheld Harper’s objection to the question, but after the proceedings, Sheriff Ronny Brown said he wanted an apology.

“We don’t make this stuff up,” Brown said. “That man got up there and dragged us through the mud. I resent it like hell. We’re professionals trying to do a great job, and politics doesn’t enter into it.”

Deliberations are scheduled to continue today at 9 a.m.