by GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A high-profile murder case involving a man accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife during a heated divorce has ended in a mistrial after a Kent County jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.
Marcus D. Lofton, 43, was on trial for the August 17, 2023, death of 38-year-old Alicia Danielle Lofton — just one day after she served him divorce papers. The couple had been married for only six months before she filed.
Lofton faced an open murder charge, which would have allowed the jury to consider first-degree murder — punishable by life without parole — or second-degree murder, which carries a possible life sentence. But after days of deliberation following the May 19 start of the trial, jurors informed the court by 5 p.m. Friday that they remained deadlocked.
Police were called to the couple’s home on Union Avenue SE near Adams Street, where they found Alicia Lofton dead outside the residence. Investigators say she was shot multiple times while attempting to escape through a window.
According to court testimony, Marcus Lofton admitted to arguing with his wife on the morning of the shooting. He told police he struck at her with a handgun, which accidentally fired. He then said she locked herself in another room. When he forced the door open, he found her trying to flee through a window — that’s when, according to his own account, he shot her repeatedly.
Lofton was immediately arrested and remains in the Kent County Jail as prosecutors weigh their next steps.
Though the case unfolded in Michigan, it has drawn attention from advocates in Wyoming and other states concerned with rising domestic violence rates and the legal challenges that follow. The mistrial now leaves Alicia Lofton’s family — and the public — awaiting answers and justice.
