One day after the proceedings were nearly declared a mistrial, the jury in the second murder trial of Edward Holley continued deliberating Thursday.

On Wednesday, the jury foreman told Orange County Judge Hyun Chin Kim for the second time that the panel was deadlocked. Kim read additional jury instructions and directed jurors to keep trying to reach a verdict.

After returning Thursday morning, the jury deliberated for two hours before requesting a partial read-back of testimony from prosecution witness Dawn Gasca-Young. She testified that two cars were cruising through her Town of Wallkill apartment complex the night Megan McDonald was killed in March 2003.

Gasca-Young said the cars, one playing loud music, drove slowly together through Kensington Manor Apartments. She described the vehicles as similar to those belonging to McDonald and Holley.

Special prosecutors considered her testimony significant because McDonald’s Mercury Sable was found three days after her murder, parked unusually at Kensington Manor with blood inside.

Prosecutors argued Holley was in the back seat of McDonald’s car when he attacked her as she sat in the driver’s seat. They said the fight moved outside the vehicle, where Holley allegedly struck McDonald more than 20 times in the head and face with a blunt object, possibly a hammer.

Holley’s defense has noted that no murder weapon was recovered, no eyewitnesses came forward and little physical evidence was presented.

Jurors appear focused on the vehicles. They already have photos of McDonald’s Sable in the jury room, along with photos of a Dodge Neon believed to have been frequently driven by a friend of McDonald’s. Prosecutors have said the Neon is not relevant to the case.

The jury is scheduled to return Friday morning and will resume deliberations immediately, with no pending jury notes before the court.