POUGHKEEPSIE – Rayheim Drayton, a 46-year-old Poughkeepsie native who resides in Atlanta, Georgia, was facing prison time following a traffic stop in New York in 2024, when New York State Police allegedly found a large amount of cocaine in Drayton’s vehicle. Drayton, whose stage name is Tito Montana, took his case to trial in Poughkeepsie in October and was found .
Dutchess County District Attorney Anthony Parisi had his prosecutors re-try Drayton on the charge that deadlocked the first jury. Dutchess County Court Judge Jessica Segal allowed for a . The jurors began deliberating midweek and sent a note to Judge Segal on Thursday, saying they were deadlocked. The judge encouraged them to continue through the day to see if there were any changes. On Friday morning, the jury indicated they were “hopelessly deadlocked,” just before lunch, forcing Judge Segal to declare a mistrial, again.
“I’m not doing this trial for a third time after hearing and reviewing the same evidence in both trials,” Segal told the ADAs and defense attorney Joe Gulino. Segal indicated that a trial is a tremendous financial burden on the court’s resources. The judge told Gulino that she would entertain a motion to dismiss the case in the interest of justice, which the attorney plans to submit. The prosecutors implied they might pursue a third attempt at convicting Drayton.
Mid-Hudson News spoke with two members of the jury after they were released on Friday. One indicated that nine members were voting not guilty and three of them were in favor of a conviction. The second juror noted that, at one point, there were at least 10 of the 12 jurors who were in favor of a not guilty verdict.
Drayton and his attorney, along with the prosecutors, are returning to Judge Segal’s courtroom on January 8, 2026, to determine if a third trial will be initiated.
“Despite DA Parisi’s statement after the first trial, the defense has again shown that the People lack evidence necessary to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” Defense Attorney Gulino told Mid-Hudson News. “Now two entirely different juries of 12 have made it clear that the DA’s Office will have a perpetual inability to meet their burden based on a lack of evidence. Neither trial was a one-holdout in favor of Defendant’s situation; the numbers both times were much more significant in favor of acquittal, and, indeed, Defendant was already acquitted of a separate intent to sell charge, an acquittal agreed upon by the first jury within the first 40 minutes of their deliberations.”
Asked if a third trial was a responsible reaction to the second mistrial, Gulino said, “At what point does it stop being about pursuing justice and become about the need to be right or to win. In my opinion, given the issues in this case across two heavily litigated trials, a third attempt by the DA’s Office is no longer a pursuit of justice but is rather a purposeful choice to ignore the fact that two different juries made it clear you cannot meet your burden of proof in furtherance of a lust for an elusive victory.”
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