Judge declares mistrial in Ian Mitcham sentencing after jury impasse

A judge declared a mistrial late Wednesday in the sentencing phase of Ian Mitcham’s murder trial after jurors reported they were at an impasse, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office confirmed.

The mistrial does not affect Mitcham’s conviction in the 2015 murder of Allison Feldman, a 31-year-old Scottsdale woman who was beaten, sexually assaulted and killed inside her home more than a decade ago.

Mitcham remains in custody.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has not yet decided whether to retry the penalty phase, but under Arizona law, prosecutors have decisions to make.

What could happen next?

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office must first decide whether to retry the penalty phase. If prosecutors decline to retry it, the judge will sentence Mitcham to either life or natural life in prison.

If prosecutors do move forward with a new penalty phase, a new jury would be brought together. That jury would not retry the question of guilt or any aggravating circumstances already decided unanimously by the first jury. If the second jury also cannot reach a unanimous decision, the judge will decide between a sentence of life or natural life in prison.

A Maricopa County Superior Court jury found Mitcham guilty in April of first-degree murder, sexual assault and burglary following a trial that hinged on DNA evidence and marked the first time in Arizona that familial DNA testing was used to identify a murder suspect.

Feldman was found dead Feb. 18, 2015, in her home near Loop 101 and Pima Road by her boyfriend. She was covered in a sheet. Court documents said she died of asphyxiation with blunt force trauma.

Detectives found no sign of forced entry.

Police said they could find no connection between Mitcham and Feldman. Mitcham denied knowing Feldman or having been in her home.

The DNA trail that led to Mitcham

Police initiated a familial DNA investigation in 2017 using evidence found at the scene. That process identified Mitcham’s incarcerated brother as someone closely related to the suspected killer.

Investigators then discovered a blood sample taken from Mitcham after a January 2015 DUI arrest. Without acquiring a warrant, police used the sample to create a DNA profile and found in April 2018 that it matched DNA found at the scene.

Mitcham, then 42, was arrested in April 2018 on suspicion of murder. A week later, a grand jury indicted him for first-degree murder, sexual assault and second-degree burglary. He was held on $5 million bond.

The legal battle over DNA

In 2022, Mitcham pleaded guilty to two felony counts in the DUI case. That same year, his defense team moved to suppress the warrantless DNA evidence, as well as swab evidence collected at his 2018 arrest.

The trial court agreed that Mitcham’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure were violated and ruled the DNA evidence inadmissible.

The Arizona Supreme Court reversed that decision in December 2024. While the high court concurred that Mitcham’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated, it unanimously determined the “inevitable discovery” exception applied, meaning his DNA profile would have been created after his 2022 felony convictions.

“This is certain, not speculative, so it easily satisfies the preponderance standard,” Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer wrote in the opinion.

Prosecutors had supported their case primarily with forensic evidence, arguing that Mitcham’s DNA was found in multiple locations inside Feldman’s home, placing him at the scene the night she was killed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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