Jurors can't decide on sentence

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LAS VEGAS - A judge declared a hung jury Friday in the penalty phase of the Donte Johnson murder trial after the panel said it couldn't agree on a sentence.

Last week, the jury convicted Johnson, 21, in an August 1998 house robbery in which four young men were shot to death.

The jury began deliberating Johnson's sentence Thursday morning. They were sent home late Thursday afternoon after sending a note that suggested one of the jurors may not be able to consider levying the death penalty.

The jury told District Judge Jeffrey Sobel on Friday that they could not reach a decision on Johnson's sentence. Sobel declared a hung jury and sent jurors home.

A three-judge panel will now decide Johnson's sentence.

Two other men involved in the incident were sentenced to life in prison without parole at separate trials last year.

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