The jurors had said the same thing Friday, but had been told to resume deliberating.
Shortly before 4 p.m., they threw in the towel.
What concerned the 12 jurors: whether a federal informant had "induced or persuaded" McKay into manufacturing eight Molotov cocktails during last summer's Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
McKay, 23, of Austin, Texas, was charged along with a friend, Bradley Neil Crowder, also 23, of Austin, with making and possessing the Molotov cocktails and for lacking serial numbers for the incendiaries. Crowder last month entered a guilty plea to one of the three counts he faced and the government dropped the other two; no sentencing date has been set.
McKay, however, took his case to trial and claimed the FBI informant in the case, another Austin man named Brandon Darby, entrapped him. Darby, who gained a national reputation in activist circles for his relief work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, became a government informant and infiltrated a group of Austin activists at the request of the FBI.
Both men testified at trial. Darby said he didn't induce McKay or Crowder to make the Molotov cocktails, and he denied planting the idea in their heads. McKay said Darby hatched the plan to make the firebombs.
After Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis granted the mistrial, he set a new trial date for March 16.
He also said McKay could be freed from federal custody if he posts $25,000 cash or surety bond.
The judge set conditions: McKay can't threaten Darby or other witnesses who testified against him, he must commit no new crimes, submit to drug testing and live with his father in Midland, Texas, until they find housing for him in Texas. He must also surrender his passport.
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