Closure for the family of Brenda Whitfield has been postponed once again as a trial over her 1993 murder at a gas station ended Thursday with a hung jury.

In one of the longest-running murder cases in the country, the Jefferson County Prosecutor's Office failed to prove without a reasonable doubt that Percy Phillips, charged in 2009, killed Whitfield during a gas station robbery in 1993. 

The judge declared a mistrial Wednesday, one day after the jury went into deliberations - but ultimately couldn't reach a decision.

The case has been troubled since the beginning, after the actions of a Louisville Metro Police detective sent an innocent man to prison for nine years.

Whitfield's family thought they'd received justice from that conviction in 1995, when Edwin Chandler was wrongfully found guilty of the robbery and murder. But when the case was reopened in 2009, Whitfield's son said, it started an "emotional journey" for family members that persists. . 

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"Now I have to go through the whole thing again," Whitfield's husband, Keith Whitfield, told The Courier Journal when Chandler was exonerated. 

"I'm sorry he had to go through it," he continued. "I'm just glad he's able to get his life back, whatever he can get back."

Brenda Whitfield, 25, was working at a Chevron gas station in the 3300 block of Newburg Road on Sept. 28, 1993.

About 10:15 p.m., video surveillance showed, a man walked into the store and headed to the beer cooler. He was wearing dark glasses and a fish-net hat — both recovered by police just after the shooting. 

When he approached the counter with a 22-ounce can of Colt 45 malt liquor, Whitfield opened the register. The man didn't even demand money before shooting her once in the head, according to case records.

He got $32 and left behind the beer and his fingerprints. 

Whitfield, who'd started working at the store about a month before the shooting, had 15 minutes left in her shift. She left behind her husband and two small sons, ages 4 and 2.

Chandler was convicted in 1995 based on a false confession he said was coerced by then-Detective Mark Handy. 

"Having to explain yourself to someone who doesn't believe you, it's kind of like bumping your head against the wall," Chandler said after his 2009 exoneration. "I thought if I tell them what they want to know, they'll leave me alone."

Chandler was ultimately paid $8.5 million by the city in a 2012 settlement after his lawyers showed Handy had fed him facts to use in the confession and taped over a surveillance video that might have led to the real killer.

In the years since, Handy was found to have been involved in two cases that wrongfully put three men behind bars. In May 2021, he was sentenced to one year in prison after admitting he perjured himself in one of those cases and tampered with evidence in another. 

Chandler told the sentencing judge that he took no joy in seeing Handy taken off to jail. 

“Nothing can replace what I have lost,” he said. 

Though released on parole earlier, Chandler's exoneration came in 2009 with help of new fingerprint technology. The fingerprint on the can of beer didn't match his, though police allege it did match Percy Phillips, 57. 

He was charged with murder while in prison on unrelated charges, though he was released before he finally stood trial for Whitfield's killing 13 years later. 

The trial started April 12 — after a judge ruled Phillips was competent to stand trial. His lawyers filed multiple motions alleging he was not. 

After the conclusion of the six-day trial, the jurors were deadlocked and Circuit Court Judge Eric Haner declared a mistrial. 

"On behalf of the trial team, I want to thank everyone who worked so hard to pursue justice for Brenda Whitfield and her family. We respect the work of the jury and in the coming weeks, my office will be making a decision regarding prosecuting a second trial," Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Mark Baker said in a release. 

A status hearing is scheduled for May 23.

Contact reporter Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com.