CROWN POINT | A drug trial involving the testimony of a former local high school principal ended Thursday night in confusion.

Diane Poulton, with the Lake County prosecutor's office, said Friday that Lake Superior Court Judge Julie Cantrell will decide early next year whether a jury found Richard Kelly, 38, of Gary, guilty of a charge he sold cocaine in May to a police informant near Gary's Brunswick section.

Poulton said the jury returned what appeared to be a unanimous guilty verdict after four hours of deliberation Thursday, but minutes later one juror recanted and said Kelly wasn't guilty.

Cantrell ordered the jury to resume deliberating, but the dissenting juror refused and changed his vote back to guilty again.

Defense lawyer Alex Woloshansky demanded Cantrell order a new trial. The judge is giving him and the prosecutor's office several weeks to do legal research on the subject before making a ruling.

Poulton said Michael Banham, a former principal at Calumet High School, testified as a prosecution witness that he knew Kelly ran a drug operation out of a home in the 1300 block of Williams Street.

Banham had a 12-year career in education, most recently as principal of Calumet High, until Lake Ridge School Corp. suspended him early this year following allegations he assaulted his wife during a domestic dispute.

Banham later resigned and pleaded guilty last summer to a charge of dealing cocaine to a Gary police informant last spring near 15th and Clark Road in Gary. He awaits sentencing Feb. 22.