Mistrial declared in trial of former New Jersey police chief who'd faced hate crime-related accusation

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A federal jury that convicted a former New Jersey police chief earlier this week of lying to the FBI during a probe into allegations he'd assaulted a handcuffed black teen deadlocked on two separate charges against him, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial on Friday.

The mistrial came after jurors failed to reached verdicts against Frank Nucera on hat- crime and deprivation-of-civil-rights charges. Jurors deliberated for almost 48 hours over several days.

The former Bordentown Township police chief is accused of smashing the head of an 18-year-old black teen into a doorjamb while he was being escorted from a hotel during an arrest.

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Frank Nucera, 62, the former chief of the Bordentown Township police. (Bordentown Township Police Facebook)

Federal prosecutors said the assault was driven by racism, alleging Nucera had a history of making racist remarks. His own officers were so disturbed, they secretly recorded him for over a year.

In one recording, Nucera, 62, allegedly said black people are "like ISIS, they have no value. They should line them all up and mow ’em down. I’d like to be on the firing squad, I could do it."

Prosecutors said the former police chief harbored an "intense, senseless, irrational and bigoted view" view of African-Americans.

Nucera was among several officers who responded to a Ramada hotel in September 2016 amid complaints of two teens who were not guests swimming in the pool.

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Timothy Stroye, was "loudly complaining" while handcuffed before Nucera allegedly rammed his head into the doorjamb. Nucera denied assaulting the teen in an interview with the FBI.

Defense attorneys argued some officers wanted to get rid of Nucera because of his tough disciplinary policies. The U.S. attorney's office said it plans to retry Nucera on the two deadlocked counts.