Judge declares mistrial in Grisham open carry case

By Bob Owens | 8:17 PM | October 18, 2013

A mistrial was declared Friday in a Texas case against a soldier carrying his assault rifle on a hike, in a proceeding that was being closely watched by gun-rights advocates.

The six-person jury in Belton was deadlocked after two days of deliberations Thursday and Friday.

Army Master Sgt. Christopher Grisham, who was charged with misdemeanor interference with the duties of an officer, declared victory afterward. Grisham was arrested in March by a Temple police officer responding to a report that Grisham was carrying an assault rifle while hiking with his 15-year-old son for a Boy Scouts merit badge.

The prosecutor will try the case again starting November 18, with a new jury. Is it normal for a prosecutor to be so zealous to prosecute someone for a misdemeanor crime?

While this is entirely an outside opinion, it appears that ego may be involved in this prosecution, even if Grisham did bait the cops as some have suggested.

Bob Owens is the Editor of BearingArms.com. Bob is a graduate of roughly 400 hours of professional firearms training classes, including square range and force-on force work with handguns and carbines. He is a past volunteer instructor with Project Appleseed. He most recently received his Vehicle Close Quarters Combat Instructor certification from Centrifuge Training, and is the author of the short e-book, So You Want to Own a Gun. He can be found on Twitter at bob_owens.