Friday, March 19, 2004
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Friday, March 19, 2004 |
| Jury can’t decide; former NFL star may be retried for assaulting son By JOHN MUNFORD A mistrial was declared Thursday morning in the aggravated assault case against a former NFL football star after a jury became deadlocked during deliberations. Gregory Lenard Lloyd, 38, a former Fayette County resident, was accused of putting a gun in his son’s mouth while disciplining him for bad grades in 2001. It is unclear whether prosecutors will re-try Lloyd, who was a five-time Pro Bowl selection during his 10-year career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The jury had deadlocked 11-1 in favor of convicting Lloyd, but Georgia law requires a unanimous verdict. Lloyd will remain in the Fayette County Jail without bond as he awaits trial on an aggravated stalking charge stemming from allegedly violating a protective order from the court by calling his wife numerous times on her cellphone. Lloyd’s son, now 15, testified that in 2001 his dad took him into a walk-in closet in the family’s 12,000-square-foot home in the Whitewater Creek subdivision where the assault took place. The victim said Lloyd told him to open his mouth and then Lloyd put a gun in it. “He told me I was wasting my life away. And if I wanted to, he’d end it for me,” the victim said. Lloyd denied the charges when he testified Tuesday morning, saying the incident never happened. The incident wasn’t reported to police until after the victim revealed the allegation in a counseling session. The boy testified that he was afraid to tell his mother because he was afraid she would discuss it with her husband, putting her in danger. Lloyd later took the stand and denied the incident ever happened, but he did admit to spanking his children to discipline them. Lloyd’s estranged wife also testified that her husband pointed a gun at her during an altercation at the couple’s home in December 2002. Lloyd was arrested for that incident and later pled no contest to the criminal charges; he was sentenced to 12 months probation and a $1,500 fine. Lloyd said he entered the nolo plea to get the incident behind him although he maintained he was innocent of those charges too. Lloyd retired from pro football in 1998 after playing his last season with the Carolina Panthers.
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