No Verdict Reached On Third Day Of Deliberations In Bella Bond Murder Trial

BOSTON (CBS) -- Jurors in the Bella Bond murder trial deliberated for a second full day of deliberations Thursday, but again did not reach a verdict.

Since receiving the case, jurors have deliberated for two full days and part of another. In total, deliberations have gone on for over 16 hours.

Michael McCarthy is charged with first-degree murder in Bella's death.

After hearing 15 days of testimony, a jury of eight men and four women is now deciding whether to convict McCarthy of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter or to find him not guilty of any of those charges.

Prosecutors say McCarthy killed Bella because he thought she was a "demon," but the defense said the girl's mother, Rachelle Bond, was the one who held bizarre occult beliefs and killed her daughter.

Closing arguments Tuesday painted two opposing views of Rachelle, with the defense pointing out that there was no physical evidence tying McCarthy to the murder and claiming Rachelle lied in implicating him.

Legal analyst Jennifer Roman weighed in on the case Wednesday.

"They really have no physical evidence," she said. "And where you have one of the alleged culprits or perpetrators totally implicating the other alleged perpetrator, it really makes it tough to go after both. The DA's office recognized they needed evidence. Rachelle Bond was their evidence. She was the link to McCarthy. She was the only link to actually getting some type of conviction, if there is going to be one, which I think is unlikely."

During the last three weeks, the jury heard about Bella's short and tragic life and both sides' accounts of how the little girl ended up dead, her body washed ashore on Deer Island in the summer of 2015.

Over the course of the trial, 169 pieces of evidence were introduced, and 34 witnesses testified.