A homicide trial in Allegheny County collapsed on Wednesday after a judge's tipstaff smelled marijuana in the jury room during a lunch break, and every juror questioned about it denied any knowledge of drug use. The mistrial halted proceedings against Safon Gump, who is charged with fatally shooting 38-year-old Gregory Prince in Homewood, and now pushes the case toward a new trial date in March.
According to WTAE, opening statements in the trial began around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. Prosecutors had presented two witnesses by the time the lunch break started around 1:15 p.m. Jurors were sent back to their fifth-floor room to await clearance to leave for lunch. It was during that window, officials said, that a juror used marijuana in the jury room. When Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski's tipstaff arrived to release the jury, the smell of marijuana was detected in the room, according to the station's report.
Borkowski called the attorneys into chambers, and each of the 12 jurors and two alternates was called back individually to be questioned, per the same account. Every juror denied using marijuana, with one juror reportedly telling the judge flatly, “It wasn't me.” As reported by TribLIVE, Judge Borkowski appointed independent defense attorney Justin Okun to advise the jurors and protect their Fifth Amendment rights during the individual questioning, since the inquiry touched on whether any juror had ingested substances or taken medications that could affect their service.
Defense Argues an Untruthful Juror Tainted the Case
Defense attorney Owen Seman requested the mistrial, telling the court he could not proceed with a homicide trial while someone in the jury room was not being truthful, the article notes. Both sides agreed on one point going in: legal, prescribed marijuana use would not by itself disqualify a juror, and Seman said as much in agreeing with prosecutors on that narrow issue. TribLIVE reports that under Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 605(B), a trial court may declare a mistrial on a defendant's motion when a prejudicial event occurs, or on its own authority under what the rule calls manifest necessity.
The breakdown wasn't really about marijuana's legality — it was about the lie. Smoking and vaping are strictly prohibited inside the Allegheny County Courthouse regardless of anyone's medical marijuana status, per TribLIVE, so any use inside the jury room would have violated facility rules even for a juror holding a valid card. That distinction is why the alleged use itself was almost beside the point; what forced Borkowski's hand was that no juror would own up to it once asked directly.
No Charges Planned Despite Contempt Statute on the Books
Pennsylvania law does give judges statutory authority to punish courtroom misbehavior. Under Title 42, Section 4132 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, courts can impose summary punishment for direct criminal contempt when misconduct in the court's presence obstructs justice. Despite that authority, prosecutors and defense counsel agreed in chambers that no criminal charges would be pursued against the juror, according to TribLIVE's reporting.
Following the mistrial, Borkowski issued a court order sealing the transcript of the in-chambers juror interviews after media inquiries and requests for the individual transcripts, TribLIVE reports. That means the exact identity of the juror involved, and precisely how the marijuana was used, remain outside the public record. The Allegheny County District Attorney's Office did not respond to TribLIVE's outreach seeking comment on the case.
The Underlying Homicide Case Against Gump
The case that the mistrial interrupted stems from the October 2025 shooting death of Gregory Prince outside his Homewood home. Police allege the killing followed a dispute over vehicle damage, after Prince walked outside to confront a driver who had allegedly struck his car about a week earlier, according to TribLIVE's earlier coverage. A witness on the phone with Prince at the time reportedly overheard him ask the driver whether he had hit his car moments before gunshots were fired.
Prince, 38, was found lying on the ground in the 7000 block of Race Street and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to WTAE, with a Trib report from May 2025 noting he suffered multiple gunshot wounds; ShotSpotter technology recorded 12 rounds of gunfire around 9:30 p.m. in that same block. Investigators say they linked Gump to the scene through city-owned surveillance cameras that tracked his car's license plate, parking garage video allegedly showing him swapping plates, and gunshot residue found on his vehicle's steering wheel cover.
Gump, who was taken into custody in October 2025, had pleaded guilty in 2021 to four criminal charges including escape and fleeing from a police officer. This record resulted in probation and a legal prohibition against possessing firearms, according to TribLIVE. That prior conviction is why he faces an illegal firearm possession charge in addition to criminal homicide and evidence tampering counts. He remains held without bail at the Allegheny County Jail while awaiting the retrial, now rescheduled for March 2027.
A Judge With Two Decades on the Bench
Borkowski has served on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas since 2005, following years as a prosecutor and chief trial deputy, and voters retained him for a new term in November 2025 with 72% of the vote, according to Ballotpedia. He holds law and graduate degrees from Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh. For now, the case he was overseeing starts over from scratch, with jury selection that had already taken two days before testimony was halted now needing to be redone entirely next year.
