A jury could not come to a unanimous decision Monday on whether Craig Wood, who killed 10-year-old Hailey Owens in 2014, should be sentenced to death.

The jury's decision was announced after more than four hours of deliberation.

A motion for a new trial will be heard on Jan. 11. Judge Thomas Mountjoy said that if the motion is dismissed, he will proceed to sentence Wood.

Prosecutors had argued Wood deserved the death penalty for kidnapping and raping Hailey, then taking her down to his basement and shooting her in the head.

A 12-0 decision was needed from the Platte County jurors for Wood to get the death penalty.

The jury found Wood guilty of first-degree murder last week. Under state law, the only punishments allowed for a first-degree murder conviction are life in prison and the death penalty.

Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson gave his closing argument, asking the jurors to give Craig Wood the death penalty for murdering Springfield 10-year-old Hailey Owens.

“This is it,” Patterson said. “This is the case. This is the case that calls for strict enforcement of the law and the ultimate penalty, the death penalty.”

Patterson reminded jurors of the details of the crime — Wood snatched Hailey off the street, took the girl back to his home, sexually assaulted her and shot her to death.

“I’m at a loss for words how to accurately and adequately describe what Hailey went through on that day,” Patterson said. “I just don’t have the words to describe it.”

In his closing arguments, Wood's attorney Patrick Berrigan urged the jurors to consider mercy.

“You now decide for yourself because each one of you is going to be living the rest of your life with this decision, too,” Berrigan told the jurors. “You don’t have to defend it, and you don’t have to explain it.”

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There must be at least one “aggravating factor” to sentence someone to death. State law outlines several aggravating factors, and prosecutors said several apply to Wood's killing of Hailey, including that:

Wood killed Hailey while committing three other crimes: rape, sodomy and kidnapping,

Wood killed Hailey because she was a witness to the crimes Wood committed,

Hailey was a random victim,

Wood killed Hailey to avoid lawful arrest

And Wood’s actions were wantonly vile or inhuman.

The jury found that all of those were acceptable aggravating factors. The jury also found that none of the mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating factors.

Ultimately, though, the jury passed the decision to sentence Wood to Judge Mountjoy.

Hailey's mother, Stacey Herman, told reporters she trusts Mountjoy to make a fair decision.

For at least two more months, Greene County residents will have to wait to hear whether Wood dies of natural causes or at the hands of the state.

Berrigan previously said that Wood was willing to plead guilty and spend the rest of his life in prison to avoid the death penalty.

Herman told the News-Leader in April that she would like to avoid a trial and she asked Patterson to accept the plea deal.

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