Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters spoke out after being “slammed” following the second hung jury in the murder trial against Ray Tensing.

Stew Mathews, Tensing’s attorney, told Enquirer media partner Fox 19 earlier this week Deters offered a plea deal of reckless homicide after the first trial. The defense declined because Tensing “isn’t guilty of anything.” But Deters told Bill Cunningham on 700WLW Wednesday the story Mathews told wasn’t as it seemed.

Deters said between trials he ran into Mathews and asked if a plea would be something they would consider because some use of force experts said the shooting was “reckless.” Mathews turned him down.

“This was not a formal meeting,” Deters said.

During the second trial, Deters said the prosecution offered the plea deal again because his office wanted it on the record that Tensing refused it.

Giving his reasoning behind considering the deal in the first place, Deters said each retrial is "horrible" and like “ripping off a bandage” for the family of Sam DuBose, who was shot and killed by Tensing during a traffic stop in July 2015.

What about lesser charges?

Another point of contention during the trial was the charges pressed against the former University of Cincinnati police officer.

Some have said Deters' office overreached with charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter. Deters said he had no control over that.

“This has been a very difficult time for my office because of Judge (Leslie) Ghiz’s gag order. We have not been able to defend ourselves through this whole thing," Deters told Cunningham.

Deters said the grand jury indicted Tensing on those charges based on the facts and the law after the jurors were advised by Common Pleas Court Judge John "Skip" West, who was overseeing the grand jury at the time.

Editorial:Deters should seek a third Tensing trial

“He reviewed all the evidence and he instructed the grand jury. Not the prosecutors. No one from the prosecutor’s office advocated any particular charge. No one," Deters told Cunningham.

However, in a noteworthy news conference 10 days after the July 19, 2015, shooting, Deters called the shooting “the most asinine act I’ve ever seen a police officer make.” He said it was “without question a murder.”

On whether Deters could go back to a grand jury and get lesser charges pressed against Tensing, he said it's not possible.

More:Enquirer takes lawsuit against Judge Leslie Ghiz to Ohio Supreme Court

“Tensing was indicted on July 29, 2015," Deters said. "We had 270 days to bring previously uncharged crimes and that would have been April 23, 2016. So the first day of the trial was Nov. 1, 2016. Six months before the trial even started we were out of time to charge anything else. That was over, that was totally over.”

Legal experts told The Enquirer the time for prosecutors to bring additional charges can be extended, particularly when a defendant files motions.

Tensing's attorney, Stew Mathews, filed half a dozen motions – including to move the case to another county – in the months after Tensing was indicted.

Mike Allen, the county's former prosecutor, has been outspoken that Deters should have pursued a reckless homicide charge initially. And after the first trial ended in November with the jury deadlocked, Allen said Deters should have taken the case to a new grand jury and sought the reckless homicide charge.

"If he’s out of time," Allen said, "he’s got nobody to blame but himself for that."

Deters said he will decide how to proceed in a few weeks. Going forward, he said, his office is weighing the jury count and what that could mean for success at trial.