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Jury continues deliberations in highway shootings trial

Jurors this morning began their first full day of deliberations in the case against the man behind a string of highway shootings in the Columbus area.

Deliberations began at 9am. The only word from the jury came when it requested an easel.

The panel met for about an hour yesterday after hearing closing arguments and instructions from the judge. They are sequestered in a hotel.

Neither side disputes that 29-year-old Charles McCoy Junior fired the gun. Neither side disputes that he was severely mentally ill. The question for the jury is his state of mind.

McCoy has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. To find him insane, jurors must determine that his untreated paranoid schizophrenia kept him from understanding the shootings were wrong.

However, if jurors agree he purposely planned to kill when he fatally shot Gail Knisley, they could convict him of aggravated murder. That could mean a possible death sentence.