Federal jury in Muskogee deliberates in dog fighting case involving former NFL player

A federal jury in Muskogee will come back Friday morning to try and reach a verdict in the case of a former NFL player, charged with operating a dog fighting ring.

Federal prosecutors say investigators removed nearly 200 dogs from LeShon Johnson’s place near Broken Arrow last year.

Federal prosecutors say the 190 dogs taken from Johnson, is the largest number of dogs ever taken from one person in a federal dogfighting case.

The deliberation

The jury deliberated for more than six hours Thursday before being sent home.

The jury asked the judge if they could see more evidence, and if there were any trophies or awards Johnson had gotten from dog fighting competitions, but the judge told them they had all the information they needed. 

After about three hours of deliberating, the jury asked the judge if they couldn't reach a verdict by 5:30 p.m., if they could try again tomorrow.

The judge released them just before 8 p.m. Thursday.

The jury will be back at the courthouse Friday morning at 8:45 a.m.

"See them back tomorrow morning, they deliberated for over 8 hours, and that's a long time, so someone's in there fighting for us, we're asking that they keep fighting," said John Coyle, Johnson's attorney.

Day 3 of the trial

Prosecutors showed videos of dogs fighting and pictures of dogs' bodies on Johnson's property. 

Both prosecutors and Johnson's attorney showed jurors a certification Johnson received almost 20 years ago from the American Dog Breeders Association.

Prosecutors also showed text messages saying Johnson sold four vials of dog semen for nearly $8,000 and said Johnson had syringes.

Johnson’s attorney says the syringes were used to take care of the dogs. They told the jury that the government hates pitbulls and that's why they want Johnson to get in trouble.