New trial for Price set for Aug. 6
Megan Price, whose second-degree murder trial earlier this month ended in a hung jury, is scheduled for a new trial Aug. 6.
The new trial date was set during a brief hearing Friday in Scott County District Court.
Price, 21, of Davenport, admitted to police and in court to killing her boyfriend Allen Christopher Johnson, 34, of Davenport, on Jan. 5, but she claimed it was done in self-defense after enduring months of physical abuse during their 11-month relationship.
A Scott County jury deliberated for parts of three days before notifying Judge Mark Smith on June 9 that a verdict couldn’t be reached. After the mistrial, attorneys on both sides said that a plea agreement in the case was unlikely and that a new trial was expected.
Both attorneys also said they would review and reconsider their trial strategies.
During the trial, jurors heard two recorded confessions, one to a 911 operator and the second to a Davenport police detective. She also recounted the stabbing on the witness stand, telling the jury that she thought Johnson was about to beat her when she spotted the knife and stabbed him.
Kurt Allemeier can be contacted at (563) 383-2360 or kallemeier@qctimes.com.