The jury in the second murder trial of Edward Holley that has had everyone guessing what it would do next did something on Day 12 of deliberations that not many observers in Orange County Court expected.

Over the 11 previous days of deliberations the jury sent at least one note each day to the court asking to review evidence or testimony.

On one particular day, they sent six notes.

On Tuesday, deliberation Day 12, they sent no notes, and spent the entire day in the jury room - except during the lunch break, offering no additional clues about how their work was going.

The last note the jury sent was around midday Monday when they told the judge for the third time they were deadlocked.

After taking time to consider the court's next move, Judge Hyun Chin Kim read the jury special deadlock instructions known as the Allen Charge and told them to continue deliberations.

Each day attorneys and families on both sides would lightly speculate on the jury's progress based on what evidence and testimony they would ask to review about the 2003 murder in the Town of Wallkill.

They have been silent since Judge Kim's deadlock instructions.

Special prosecutors Julia Cornachio and Laura Murphy argued that Holley bludgeoned his ex-girlfriend Megan McDonald with a blunt object they said was a hammer possibly found in the back seat of Megan's 1991 Mercury Sable.

They said Holley was in the back seat when he attacked Megan who was in the driver's seat, and hit her in the head and face as they moved outside the car.

The case is mostly circumstantial.

A possible match between Holley's DNA and DNA on Megan's phone and in her car would show Holley may have been in Megan's car at some point.

Other DNA samples taken from the car were linked to other friends of Megan's, including a sample taken from a blunt in the car's ashtray.

The jury of six men and six women reviewed testimony from police investigators, friends of Megan's, and a rep from a DNA analysis company that found some likelihood that Holley's DNA may have been on Megan's cellphone and on the back of the driver's seat headrest.

Tests done by New York State Police did not produce a direct match between Holley and the samples.

Holley's first murder trial in spring 2025 ended in a mistrial.

Multiple sources told News 12 the split was 9 to 3 in favor of acquittal.

The jury still has phone records and photos of Megan's car with them in the deliberation room.

The jury returns Wednesday morning for Day #13 of deliberations.