The sensational financial-mismanagement trial of a former Texas Southern University president, Priscilla D. Slade, ended in a mistrial this afternoon, the Houston Chronicle reported.

After four days of deliberations, the jury sent a note to the judge, Brock Thomas of the State District Court in Houston, to say that the six men and six women had “agonized” over the evidence. “However, we cannot arrive at a unanimous verdict without doing violence to our consciences,” the note said. “To continue deliberating would be of no benefit.’‘

The trial has been full of vivid testimony of Ms. Slade’s spending, including the use of university funds for landscaping her new home and $40,000 for a new set of china. She also was accused of running up a $100,000 bar tab, and paying $10,000 for courtside tickets to professional basketball games.

Ms. Slade was fired in April 2006 after an audit concluded that she had misspent a total of $647,949 in university money on personal expenses over seven years. Ms. Slade’s lawyer has argued that all of the expenses were necessary for the president to represent the university effectively and to try to persuade potential donors to part with their money.

Ms. Slade was facing a sentence of up to life in prison, if she was convicted. There was no immediate word on whether prosecutors would seek a new trial. —Martin Van Der Werf