Jury deadlocked in rape trial

SANTA ANA — A minor league hockey player avoided conviction on rape charges Friday after a deadlocked jury failed to reach a verdict.

David McKee, 26, of Texas was accused of raping a 29-year-old woman in July 2006 while she slept in a Newport Beach summer rental after she went out drinking with McKee and his friends. The men were all minor league hockey players in town for the Anaheim Ducks hockey camp.

On Friday, Orange County Superior Court jurors deadlocked 11 to 1, with the majority voting not guilty.

McKee was indicted by a grand jury last year that charged he raped an intoxicated and unconscious woman. The alleged victim had apparently been drinking before falling asleep, then woke up to find someone was having sex with her.

Prosecutors were claiming the woman was so drunk that she could not consent to have sex, and that she was also unconscious or unaware of what was going on at the time.

McKee’s attorney, Al Stokee, argued in court that his client had consensual sex with the woman.

A pre-trial hearing to determine whether he will be retried has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Jan. 7.

“With so many not-guiltys, I can’t imagine them trying it again now,’’ Stokke told the Orange County Register.

—Tom Ragan