A deadlock jury for 2 of 4 cases leads to a mistrial in a civil suit against Kennewick School District and sexual abuse allegations tied to William “Bill” Pickerel.

The Kennewick School District was found not liable for the other 2 cases being tried at the same time. The reason for the discrepancy was the timing of a parents call to the administration to report possible abuse, according to reports.

The 2 cases where the district was found not liable, the incidents happened before the parents complaint call. The jury felt that the school could not have known about the abuse without complaints from someone. Even in the cases that happened after the parents phone call, half the jury still felt the school was not responsible for the abuse.

The cases that ended in mistrial can be tried again, settled, or or completely dropped. The other two cases are dropped completely.

There are a total of 15 victims involved in this civil suit against the school district with the first 3 cases ending in settlement. This was the first time the related cases had seen a jury in court.

All 15 cases are split into 4 main trials with 2 more trials planned.

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