BROOKHAVEN, Miss. (WJTV) – A mistrial has been declared in the trial of two white men in Brookhaven who are accused of chasing and shooting at a Black FedEx driver.

Brandon Case and his father, Gregory Charles Case, were indicted in November on charges of attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and shooting into the vehicle of D’Monterrio Gibson in January 2022.

The father-on duo allegedly fired shots at Gibson while he was delivering a package on Junior Trail in Brookhaven. Gibson, who was 24 at the time, was not injured.

Judge David Strong said he made the mistrial decision because of errors by a Brookhaven Police Department detective. On Wednesday, the judge ended the day’s session early after Detective Vincent Fernando acknowledged under oath while the jury was out of the courtroom that he had not previously given prosecutors or defense attorneys a videotaped statement police had taken from Gibson.

The judge said the officer also improperly testified about some guns that were found in the home of one of the men on trial and about gun shell casings found outside the home.

Defense attorneys requested the mistrial, and Strong said he had no choice but to grant it.

“In 17 years, I don’t think I’ve seen it,” the judge said.

Sharon McClendon, Gibson’s mother burst out with a loud expletive in the courtroom after the judge’s announcement, and she left as uniformed Mississippi Highway Patrol officers walked in her direction. The Cases sat stoically.

After court adjourned, District Attorney Dee Bates told reporters that he disagrees with the judge’s decision. Bates said a new trial will be scheduled, but he does not know if it will be before he leaves office at the end of the year. He did not seek reelection.

On Thursday, Gibson’s attorney in a civil lawsuit, Carlos Moore, said, “I share the deep disappointment and frustration expressed by Circuit Judge David Strong over this development. A mistrial represents not just an administrative setback but also a delay in justice for Mr. Gibson and his family.”

Moore said the Department of Justice is actively monitoring the developments in this state prosecution. He also requested the DOJ to investigate the Brookhaven Police Department’s conduct in the matter for potential obstruction of justice.

Moore has compared the incident to the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was running through a Georgia subdivision in 2020 when three white men – a father, son and neighbor – chased him down and one blasted him with a shotgun.

The encounter between Gibson and the Cases happened as Gibson made deliveries for FedEx on the evening of Jan. 24, 2022, while driving a rental van with the Hertz logo on three sides. After he dropped off a package at a home on a dead-end public road, Gregory Case used a pickup truck to try to block the van from leaving, and Brandon Case came outside with a gun, District Attorney Dee Bates told the majority-white jury.

As Gibson drove the van around the pickup truck, shots were fired, with three rounds hitting the delivery van and some of the packages inside, Bates said.

Gregory Case’s attorney, Terrell Stubbs, told jurors that his client saw a van outside his mother-in-law’s unoccupied home and went to check what was happening. The elder Case was just going to ask the van driver what was going on, but the driver did not stop, Stubbs said.

Fernando testified that a truck stop’s security camera video recorded a white van being followed by a pickup truck at 7:31 p.m., 14 minutes before Gregory Case called police.

A police dispatcher testified that the elder Case called first, reporting he had seen a suspicious vehicle near his home and the van almost ran over him. Audio of the call was played in court, with Case saying he wanted to know who owns the van and he thought the driver was up to “something that wasn’t good.”

Gibson called shortly later, reporting that someone shot at the van while he was delivering a package, the dispatcher said.

Fernando also said cellphone records showed calls between the father and son’s phones that evening before Gregory Case called police.

Gibson is still employed by FedEx but is on workers’ compensation leave, Moore said. A judge last week dismissed Gibson’s federal lawsuit seeking $5 million from FedEx, writing that the lawsuit failed to prove the company discriminated against him because of his race. That litigation also named the city of Brookhaven, the police chief and the Cases, and Moore said he plans to file a new civil suit in state court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.