A Merrimack County Superior Court judge declared a mistrial Tuesday afternoon in the first youth center abuse scandal case to go to criminal trial.

Victor Malavet, 62, was accused of grooming and then repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl held at a youth detention facility in Concord in 2001 and 2002, where he worked as a youth counselor. He was charged with 12 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault.

After deliberating over portions of three days, the jury of seven women and five men reported that they were “still unable to come to a unanimous decision on any charges.”

“It looks like nothing will happen if I continue to ask you to deliberate,” Judge Dan St. Hilaire said to the jury. “So I am declaring a mistrial for all these charges.”

A female juror who declined to give her name said she “didn’t think there was enough evidence to say one way or the other.”

“It seemed pretty across the board that we all thought there should be more” evidence, she said, noting that the accuser denied the allegations various times before coming forward for the first time in 2021. The juror said she was only vaguely aware of the youth center abuse scandal prior to the trial.

Other jurors declined to comment as they exited the back door of the courtroom and walked to their cars.

Both Malavet and his accuser, Natasha Maunsell, 39, were present in the courtroom when the mistrial was declared. Malavet sat stoically and did not react, while Maunsell appeared emotional.

Malavet was the first of nine men charged in connection with New Hampshire’s youth detention scandal to have his case go to trial. Since 2019, nearly 1,300 people have alleged in civil cases that they were physically or sexually abused while held in state-run youth facilities from 1960 to 2021.

It was not immediately clear when – or if – Malavet would be re-tried. The other eight men who have been criminally charged are currently scheduled to go on trial this fall or next year. The next trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 18 in Hillsborough Superior Court.

“While today’s result is disappointing, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the trial team for their integrity and dedication,” Attorney General John M. Formella said in a statement. “We are grateful for their relentless effort, professionalism, and commitment to justice throughout this difficult case. We remain committed to supporting victims and continuing our efforts to address and prosecute abuse.”

Malavet and his attorneys declined to comment as they left the courtroom.

During the four-day trial, Maunsell testified that Malavet picked her to perform special tasks, such as retrieving candy from other residents, and then forced her to perform a sex act on him and raped her. Maunsell was 15 and 16 when she was held at the Youth Detention Center in Concord.

The Monitor does not identify people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Maunsell has done.

Malavet’s attorneys argued that Maunsell lied about the sexual assaults in order to obtain a monetary settlement in a separate lawsuit she has filed that remains pending.

“It’s all lies. Money changes everything, but it can’t change the truth, and the truth is, Natasha made these allegations to get paid,” Malavet’s attorney, Jaye Duncan, said during closing arguments in the case last week.

Malavet did not testify during his trial, but in a 45-minute police interview conducted in 2021 and played in the courtroom, he denied sexually assaulting Maunsell.

“The only relationship I had with her, and all the kids, was just a professional relationship,” he said.

Maunsell also denied Malavet had behaved inappropriately when she was questioned in 2002, 2017, and 2019. She testified that she lied about the abuse then because she was scared and thought that no one would believe her.

Attorneys for the state dismissed defense attorneys’ claim that Maunsell was motivated to testify in the criminal case by money, noting that her civil case did not hinge on the criminal one.

“If this was all about money, why would Natasha participate in the criminal case? She could sue, get money and be done,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Meghan Hagaman said. “Why come into this courtroom and tell a roomful of strangers the horrific details about that man repeatedly raping her?”

While Malavet’s case is the first criminal trial to go forward, it is not the first time a jury has heard the allegations in the wide-reaching scandal. In April, a Rockingham County Superior Court jury who heard evidence in a civil case awarded a former YDC resident $38 million for abuse he experienced that they found the state was liable for. The amount of the verdict has since been disputed by the state.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.