Second mistrial declared for Brian Adkison

A mistrial has been declared in the northwest Missouri case against Brian Adkison, the man accused of raping and kidnapping his former girlfriend in 2013.

Adkison then led police on a manhunt near the Lake of the Ozarks. He later broke out of jail before he was captured in a nursing home in Ohio.

Adkison is charged with kidnapping and domestic assault in Caldwell Co.

A mistrial was declared in Chillicothe Tuesday after a statement was made by a Blue Springs police officer on the witness stand.

Caldwell County Prosecutor Brady Kopek was questioning a police officer from Blue Springs, a suburb of Kansas City. The officer said on the stand he was called on June 16 about a person wanted for rape and kidnapping.

That’s when defense attorney Ross Nigro stopped the questioning, and the judge declared a mistrial.

Nigro told ABC 17 News he couldn’t elaborate on the reason for a mistrial, but that it had something to do with what the officer said on the stand.

Before the mistrial, Kopek had called another Blue Springs police officer, William Ely, to testify about a car chase the night of June 16. Ely said he tried to stop a white Chevy truck, along with two other officers, in a cul-de-sac. Other witnesses testified earlier Adkison drove the same type of truck, When the officers turned on their flashing emergency lights, the truck turned around and sped through town onto Interstate 70 East. Along the way, Ely’s dashboard camera captured the truck hitting several vehicles.

During Ely’s cross examination, he admitted he did not see who was driving the truck.

A mistrial was declared in Adkison’s case in Boone County in January, where he was on trial for rape and sexual assault charges after the jury could not decide a verdict. They did, however, find him not guilty of the burglary charge. Adkison’s retrial in Boone County is set for April 15.

The attorney’s in Adkison’s Caldwell County case will meet March 2 to decide a retrial date for that.