WILKES-BARRE--- After seven hours of deliberations, the jury announced they could not make a unanimous decision and were deadlocked in the case of a mom accused of trying to kill herself and her two kids in Luzerne County.
Newswatch 16 learned from one of the jurors that they were split: nine in favor of conviction and three opposed.
Throughout the afternoon, jurors did have a few questions for Luzerne County Court Judge David Lupas, but he encouraged them to continue deliberating and reach a verdict if it is possible.
Melissa Scholl decided not to take the stand in what the prosecution said is the most important case in the entire county.
Scholl is accused of trying to kill herself and her two kids with carbon monoxide poisoning in a school bus parking lot back in December of 2015.
Witnesses said she hooked up a garden hose from her car's exhaust pipe and into the driver's side window with her kids buckled in the back.
Testimony suggests the car engine was not running when a bus driver pulled the hose out of the car and called 911.
In closing arguments, defense attorney Larry Kansky said the case is full of sloppy police work.
"They botched this case," Kansky said. "They did no real investigation that night. They did no forensic testing."
Just before the incident, Scholl's cell phone record shows she texted her mom, "going to kill myself, can't do it anymore."
"She wasn't trying to kill herself, let alone her two beloved children. What she did basically was make gestures to get her mom to come get those kids," Kansky said.
However, the prosecution argued there is no evidence that Scholl's mom even knew her daughter was at the bus parking lot because Scholl wasn't answering what prosecution called, her mom's desperate texts.
"It's a dramatic, self-centered, narcissistic plan. It's a substantial effort toward her own suicide and the murder of her seven-year-old son, Julian and her five-year-old daughter, Vera strapped into the backseat," prosecuting attorney Sam Sanguedolce said.
Sanguedolce went on to say that all of this unraveled in front of an ex-boyfriend's mother's school bus. The ex-boyfriend has since died but could be the father of two other children Scholl put up for adoption.
Sanguedolce alleged this was a twisted plot for her ex-boyfriend's mom to find.
"This is not a cry for help. This is a carefully crafted plan to have a big, dramatic, gruesome discovery the next morning," Sanguedolce said.
Judge Lupas has scheduled a status conference on July 7th where a decision will be discussed about the possibility of a future trial. A motion for Melissa Scholl to be let out of jail was denied.