Juror: Hands Were Tied In Sleepwalking Trial

Jurors have spoken out about their decision to acquit a man who strangled his four-year-old and tried to kill his other two children because he was "sleepwalking".

A jury in Durham, North Carolina, decided that Joseph Anthony Mitchell was not guilty of murder and attempted murder after an expert witness said he was effectively unconscious at the time of his attacks four years ago.

Mr Mitchell testified at the trial that he was in financial distress and had not been sleeping well. He said he had no recollection of the attack.

"I didn't believe one word out of that man's mouth," one juror, who asked to remain anonymous, told ABC.

But, the juror said, they felt their hands were tied.

The jury of nine women and three men had asked Superior Court Judge James Roberson if they could consider a lesser verdict of manslaughter, but the judge said it was all or nothing: murder, or not guilty.

"If manslaughter had been an option, that's what we would've done," the anonymous juror told ABC.

"We weren't thinking that he should get away with it by any means."

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