Fatal Fort Greene Crash Case Declared Mistrial After Racially Charged Juror Comment: Reports

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN, NY — A judge reportedly declared a mistrial Thursday in the case surrounding the death of Victoria Nicodemus, a 30-year-old art curator who was killed in 2015 when a car jumped a curb in Fort Greene. The decision came after a juror made a statement based on the defendant's race, reports say.

Marlon Sewell, 40, of Brownsville, is being charged with second degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the deadly Dec. 6 collision. Sewell is black, and a black juror in the case admitted in court Wednesday to saying "I am not sending a black man to jail," DNAinfo reported.

DNAinfo reported that the comment was revealed to the judge in a note from another black juror.

"I have never seen a note like this," Brooklyn Supreme Court judge Vincent Del Guidice said Thursday morning before declaring the mistrial, the website reported.

Click here to read more from DNAinfo.

Nicodemus was pronounced dead at the hospital after the accident, which injured two others: Gerald Toth, 37, Nicodemus' boyfriend whose hand and ankle were injured; and Ida Turner, 75, whose leg was injured, police say.

Juror No. 8 and another juror overheard Juror No. 3 making the racially-charged statement, the New York Post reported. They also said an ambulance was called for Juror No. 8 who suffered from a panic attack due to feeling "persecuted" by Juror No. 3.

DNAinfo reported the new trial will likely take place next year. Del Guidice, the judge set a pre-trial hearing for Nov. 29.

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