BREAKING:  According to Tish Clark the jury in the trial of Quinton Tellis  for the murder of Jessica Chambers, has reached a verdict:

MISTRIAL!

After an afternoon of absolute chaos in the jury deliberation process the jury states they are deadlocked. The judge in the trial of Quinton Tellis declares a mistrial.

Jury hopelessly deadlocked after 9-10 hrs of deliberations so judge officially declaring mistrial #JessicaChambers @LocalMemphis

— Tish Clark (@tishclarktv1234) October 16, 2017

Unfortunately, despite a jury selected from outside the area, the trial appears to have broken down along almost identical social and racial lines evident in the initial case and investigation.  Family of Quinton Tellis, identified as carrying severe hatred toward Chambers, cheering outside the courtroom.  And the family of Jessica Chambers despondent with the outcome.
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  UPDATE:  No decision reached. Jury breaks until tomorrow.  Generally this does not bode well for prosecution.  Possible OJ-type verdict becomes more likely.

Jury breaking for the night. No verdict. #JessicaChambers resumes at 9am @LocalMemphis

— Tish Clark (@tishclarktv1234) October 16, 2017

The closing arguments in the case against Quinton Tellis have concluded.  Tellis is accused of capital murder in the burning death of 19-year-old Jessica Lane Chambers. Prosecutors believe that Tellis had sex with Chambers before he set her and her car on fire and left her to die the night of Dec. 6, 2014, in Courtland Mississippi.  Chambers died hours later in a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

The jury is now in deliberations.  Local reporter Therese Apel shares the timeline from yesterday’s phone forensics as delivered to the jury by prosecutors.
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Several people have written or commented asking why I’m not doing a deep dive into the trial of 28-year-old Quinton Verdell Tellis for the 2014 brutal murder of 19-year-old Jessica Lane Chambers in the small town of Courtland Mississippi.
Here’s my short explainer.  Unfortunately, I do not believe there will be Justice for Jessica delivered in this trial because after months of digging into the case as it was unfolding I came to the conclusion the District Attorney John Champion had so thoroughly botched the investigation than any subsequent arrest was unlikely to ever lead to a conviction.

It’s a gut thing, driven by following the deep weeds of the case and then accepting discoveries of new information against the backdrop of known factual evidence.  The surrounding events of the horrific crime, the action by law enforcement in the immediate aftermath, and the long-term subsequent investigation just reeks of legal malpractice.
I can cite a few transparently obvious issues below.  But suffice to say, I’m afraid any input from my end would only aid a tenuous legal defense, and possibly result in getting a guilty man acquitted.   Because, yes, the subsequent investigative practices were just that bad.
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Many CTH readers will painfully remember the 2014 brutal murder of 19-year-old Jessica Lane Chambers in the small town of Batesville Mississippi.

Jessica Chamber was burned to death on Dec. 6, 2014, and when the fire department found her she was still alive despite sustaining burns on 98 percent on her body.  She died a few hours later at the hospital. CTH invested a lot of time researching the attack and the evidence surrounding the murder.  [Category “Justice for Jessica”]
The trial of her killer, 28-year-old Quinton Verdell Tellis, begins today with jury selection in Magnolia Mississippi.  The jurors will then be transported to Batesville Mississippi for the trial.  There is a local reporter, Therese Apel, who has done exceptional reporting on the entire story from day #1. [Therese Apel Twitter Here]

Join @TRex21 for a FB LIVE Q&A on #JessicaChambers trial. Starts at 2PM today here: https://t.co/L4gTyYAyYR https://t.co/mw0KWRrO3B

— Clarion Ledger (@clarionledger) October 9, 2017

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Therese Apel, a reporter for the Clarion Ledger, has done some fantastic reporting on the murder case of Jessica Lynn Chambers.   Therese has a video update –HERE– Jessica’s death was a shocking and horrific murder that impacted many CTH readers including myself.
Today the man accused of burning Jessica to death, Quinton “Go Hard” Tellis, appeared in a Mississippi courtroom to face the charges.

Therese Apel – Quinton Tellis, 27, entered a not guilty plea in the 2014 burning death of a Mississippi teen that gained national attention.
Tellis is charged with capital murder, accused of setting Jessica Chambers, 19, on fire on a rural road in Courtland. She was found with burns over 98 percent of her body, officials said. (more…)

Quinton Tellis, the man accused of burning 19-year-old Jessica Chambers to death, is set to return to Mississippi today via Federal Marshal extradition.

According to Fox13 – […]  Panola County District Attorney John Champion confirmed to FOX13 that Quinton Tellis will be extradited from Louisiana to Mississippi to be housed in the DeSoto County Jail in Hernando.  (link)

There are a few media presentations as well as the video of the District Attorney press conference below.  It is interesting to note something slipped out that many researchers previously speculated.  Champion was previously misleading the public during media interviews.

Because of the intimacy of the crime, and because it was a lone individual (who never said a word), there wasn’t any “street talk”.  The absence of chatter was clearly stated early and often by both DA Champion and Sheriff Darby (mostly Champion).

However, Champion repeatedly said the investigators were chasing numerous tips called in – he actually said “hundreds of calls”.  In the presser today Champion admits there were only two calls ever made to the tip line:

 […]  “We hoped early on that some people would come forward, but we got nothing. Even after the reward went up to $54,000, we only got two calls.”

Here’s video of the presser:

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7:21pm EST – Suspect Named:

Quinton Verdell Tellis

Latest Video and Media Report

 […]  We’ve learned he is from Courtland, right outside of Batesville, which is also Jessica Chambers hometown. ♦ Tellis is currently serving time in Louisiana for an unrelated crime. ♦ He is charged with unlawful use of a credit card. ♦ That credit card, we are told, belonged to a Chinese exchange student who was murdered last July. ♦ Tellis has not been charged in her murder. ♦ We’re told Tellis moved to Monroe, Louisiana, sometime last summer and married a woman there. ♦ It is unclear how long he has been in prison for using the exchange student’s credit card. (Latest Update from Local Memphis)

aka: Quint “Go Hard” Tellis

FaceBook Link

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The last of several hundred emails pointing toward currently trending articles about arrests in Mississippi, surrounding the Jessica Lane Chambers murder case said:  “why have you never covered this case?”

This follows numerous emails saying (essentially): “why do you refuse to cover this case“? etc. and many more with similar sentiments….

It appears there are a considerable number of people, fly-by’s, who have no idea how far we took the research into that case and surrounding story.  So let me try to stop the nonsensical inbound efforts right now.

The current FBI/ATF etc. stories around the recent arrests in the Panola County area were indeed discussed – SEE HERE.  However, there is nothing more to them, as it specifically relates to the Jessica Chambers case, than a need by mostly federal and state authorities to justify the amount of money spent on the case. (more…)

Interesting sub-story to the Jessica Chambers murder investigation.  Reporter Therese Apel provides information on considerable gang and criminal sweep occurring as an outcropping of the year-long murder case.

The arrests are unrelated to the Chambers case – they are as a result of information gathered during the investigation which revealed additional criminal activity in/around the Panola County area.

MISSISSIPPI – Seventeen people have been charged in north Mississippi as a part of a major operation targeting suspected gang members called “Operation Bite Back,” officials said.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Don Alway announced the offensive early Tuesday morning.

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