A new trial is in the works for a Manhattan man accused of first-degree murder and child abuse.
Riley County Senior Deputy Attorney Barry Disney told KMAN the trial for Andrew Gibson resulted in a hung jury Tuesday morning. That means the jury was unable to reach a verdict of guilty or not guilty and thus declared a mistrial. The trial began Jan. 16 and was given four days.
Disney said a new trial date will be scheduled.
Riley County Police Department officers responded to a call of an unresponsive infant on the night of May 5 in 2016 in the 500 block of Stone Creek Drive. First responders found 3-month-old Serenity Reich on her back in the master bedroom, not breathing and pale. They tried to revive the child, but Reich was pronounced dead on arrival at Via Christi.
In a November 2016 preliminary hearing, Riley County Police Department Detective Bryan Johnson testified that Gibson was watching after Reich and two other children in his apartment that evening. The mother — Gibson’s ex-fiancé — was in Topeka for the day at the time of the incident.
Initially, Gibson told the detective it was an “ordinary day” and that after he’d fed the baby and put her in her crib to sleep, she was found unresponsive when she was checked on two hours later. But after further questioning, the story changed.
The second version of Gibson’s account stated that one of the other children fell over the infant. After that, Gibson later said he’d accidentally rolled over her while they were both sleeping in a bed.
It was after these statements Gibson was arrested.
An autopsy completed on May 7 in Kansas City revealed small marks on the infant’s scalp and results indicated Reich could have died from asphyxiation, as a result of her head being forcibly pressed down upon.
At a motion hearing in August, a judge denied Gibson’s request to have evidence dismissed.
Gibson faces a minimum sentence of 32 years and 10 months.
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