A county judge declared a mistrial today in the case of Orange Amir Taylor III, a former student at Eastern Michigan University who was charged with the rape and murder of a fellow student, Laura Dickinson, according to Court TV.

The jury in Washtenaw County Trial Court was “hopelessly deadlocked,” said the judge, Archie C. Brown. (The trial was also broadcast on the Web site of Court TV.)

A custodian discovered Ms. Dickinson’s body on the floor of her dormitory room last December. She was naked from the waist down with a pillow over her face. Although Ms. Dickinson had had cardiac arrhythmia, a state medical examiner identified her cause of death as “asphyxia, either from smothering or strangulation.” Mr. Taylor was recorded on a surveillance camera as entering and leaving her dorm, and his DNA matched a drop of semen found on her leg.

Eastern Michigan faced fierce criticism for violating crime-reporting law by not disclosing the apparent murder until after Mr. Taylor’s arrest. The president of the university was fired in July (he has since sued the Board of Regents). But whether the case was actually a murder the jury could not decide.

Mr. Taylor’s lawyer, Alvin Keel, said Ms. Dickinson had died of the heart condition. Mr. Taylor just discovered her body, the lawyer said, and masturbated on it. In his closing argument, Mr. Keel raised suspicion that the medical examiner did not determine Ms. Dickinson’s cause of death until the day before Mr. Taylor’s first court hearing.

“That’s all they have left to say,” the assistant prosecutor, Blaine Longsworth, struck back. “That’s the only possible claim they can make up in the case that fits or attempts to fit with the evidence against the defendant.”

Mr. Taylor’s retrial is scheduled for January 28, 2008. He faces charges of murder, assault, home invasion, and larceny, and could be sentenced to life without parole if convicted. —Sara Lipka