A Richmond man accused of murdering his wife is facing a new trial after there was a hung jury in the case over the weekend.

The failure of the jury to reach a verdict in the case of James Jian Hua Wu came late Saturday, after 13 days of deliberations. It may have been the longest ever jury deliberation in B.C.

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At the trial in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, which began Sept. 20, it was alleged that Wu had used a cleaver to inflict injuries to the neck and head area of his wife, Jin Jenna Cheng.

The Crown’s theory was that it was a case of extreme domestic violence and that Wu, who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, had intentionally killed his wife in anger after what was a difficult and frustrating period in their marriage. The May 2014 slaying happened on the second anniversary of their wedding.

Court heard that after police arrived, they found the accused and the victim lying on the floor outside their seventh-floor apartment suite in the 7000-block Granville Avenue. The victim had been stabbed multiple times.

Wu testified about an angry confrontation in which he had a knife and she pushed him away and he became fearful. He claimed that there was a pushing back and forth and that she also came into possession of a knife. Wu said he was fearful for his life at that point but claimed to have no memory of subsequent events.

The accused called several expert witnesses who testified that at the time of the offence, Wu’s mental functioning was impaired and he was in the middle of a “dissociative” episode.

Wu claimed he did not have the intent for murder but the Crown argued that even if there was evidence of a dissociative episode, the elements of murder had been proven.

The 12-member jury began deliberations on Nov. 14 and had a number of questions for the judge and the lawyers in the case before declaring that they could not reach a verdict.

The case is expected to be back in court Dec. 7 to set a date for a new trial.

Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for B.C.’s criminal justice branch, said that the jury deliberations in the case “may very well be” the longest ever in the province.

“Unfortunately we don’t track those types of statistics so I can’t officially confirm,” he said in an email.

The longest previous case is believed to be the Greeks gang murder trial, wherein the jury took 12 days before finding five men guilty of various offences in connection with three homicides. That verdict came in November 2012.

A jury in the trial of Yuan Xi William Tang, of Richmond, who was accused in the slaying of his wife, Lianjie Guo, went 11 days before finding Tang guilty of second-degree murder. That verdict was reached in November 2015.

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