Mistrial declared in case of Little Rock man accused of extortion

Deadlocked jury stopped deliberating after noon, judge told

After a half-day of deliberating -- even though the judge and attorneys were under the assumption deliberations were going on for a full day -- jurors remained deadlocked Friday in a case involving a Little Rock man accused of extorting females on social media by threatening to go public with provocative photos.

Because of the miscommunication between the judge and jurors, and because jurors failed to reach a verdict, the trial of Devio Marquette Cumbie was declared a mistrial early Friday evening.

Cumbie, 24, used his cellphone in the fall of 2018 to create a Facebook page under an alias, claimed to be a famous actor and model, and induced several females into sending him nude or semi-nude images of themselves, federal authorities said. Prosecutors argued that Cumbie used those images to force the females to send him more photos that were more explicit.

But not all 12 jurors were convinced.

Cumbie was tried on six charges -- four counts of extortion and two counts of attempted production of child pornography. The latter two charges were filed because two of the females he corresponded with were younger than 18, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

About noon Friday, the jury sent a note to U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. notifying him that one of the jurors was not taking part in deliberations. That juror insisted to the judge she was participating, so she was ordered back into the jury room.

The judge sent her back with the understanding that deliberations would resume, but jurors thought they were required to wait for more instructions from the judge, so they sat in the deliberation room and waited, said Allison Bragg, a spokeswoman with the U.S. attorney's office. That wait lasted about four hours.

Laughter could be heard from the other side of the jury room door about 3:30 p.m., a sign that jurors were not discussing the case.

Sometime after 4 p.m., the judge learned that jurors had spent all afternoon without deliberating. That's when he cleared the courtroom and began interviewing jurors one by one, Bragg said.

Cumbie's fate still hung in the balance late Friday afternoon after a week that consisted of jury selection, arguments, motions, witness testimony and jury deliberations. Sometime before 6 p.m., Moody made his decision to declare a mistrial, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Based on court testimony, Cumbie had amassed more than 5,000 followers on Facebook by opening an account under the name of Chink Capone, which he said was the online persona for actor Alex Drummond. Cumbie made up the names and told unsuspecting victims that he was a rapper and podcast host, authorities said.

While carrying out the ruse, Cumbie would tell females across the United States that he was based in New Jersey, but also had houses in whatever states his correspondents lived, according to the FBI. So if he was talking to a female in Ohio, he would claim to have a house there, agents said.

Authorities were notified about the case after a 16-year-old girl in Aurora, Colo., called police and told them she had been chatting on Facebook and Instagram with someone named "Chink Capone." She had sent him a photo of her exposed breast and he later told her to send him fully naked photos or else he would publicize the topless photo, according to the FBI.

A Colorado detective traced the internet protocol address to Cumbie's apartment on Lancaster Road in Little Rock, and the case was eventually turned over to federal authorities, court documents stated.

Cumbie testified in his own defense Thursday, telling jurors that he had not participated in any online conversations that involved underage girls or extortion. He said the conversations that were criminal in nature must have occurred when his friend used his cellphone without his knowledge.

Metro on 02/22/2020

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