Trial of accused security guard ends in mistrial

UPDATE, Nov. 13: Judge Vance B. Long will enter an order setting aside the mistrial on the injury to personal property charge against Lankford Protective Services officer Byron Wayne Meadows. That information comes from Meadows' lawyer, Seth Cohen. Cohen told me that after declaring a mistrial for both charges yesterday, Long went back to talk to the jury and discovered that they had found Meadows not guilty on the injury to personal property charge. They remained deadlocked on the assault charge.

A judge in Guilford County Court declared a mistrial this afternoon in a case involving a private security guard accused of assaulting a Greensboro Transit Authority patron at the Depot in downtown Greensboro and damaging his property.

Judge Vance B. Long of Randolph County declared a mistrial after the jury foreman reported that the jury remained deadlocked 6-6 after more than five hours of deliberations.

Byron Wayne Meadows, who was employed by Lankford Protective Services at the time of incident, was found guilty of the charges by a district court judge earlier this year and appealed the verdict.
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Meadows testified on his own behalf on Tuesday, along with two fellow security guards assigned to the Depot, Omar Mahoney and Kevin McIntyre.

The state's only witness was the alleged victim, Russell Kilfoil, an avowed member of the Almighty Latin King & Queen Nation street organization, commonly known as the Latin Kings.

Cyrus Brown argued the case for the state, with Seth Cohen representing the defendant.

Kilfoil is suing Meadows and Lankford Protective Services. Kilfoil's attorney in the civil suit, Chris Brook, sat through the trial on Tuesday, which Cohen noted in his closing argument to the jury.

Some background here.