Split jury ends rape trial

A 3 1/2 -week trial of a man accused of raping a toddler and a 7-year-old girl ended Thursday with a hung jury.

Jurors, who had been deliberating since noon Wednesday, indicated they were deadlocked at 10-2 in favor of convicting David Scott Waring, 23, of three counts of first-degree child rape.

One count relates to a girl who hadn’t had her second birthday when she allegedly was raped last summer in Spokane. The other two counts involve the 7-year-old, whom authorities say was raped between July 1 and Sept. 28 last year.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza declared a mistrial about 10:45 a.m. after jurors said they didn’t think they could break the deadlock.

“We’re clearly going to reset it for trial and talk to the family and see what they want to do,” said Deputy Prosecutor Ed Hay, head of the Special Assault Unit in the prosecutor’s office.