Mistrial in Md. mental hospital murder case ELLICOTT CITY, Md. - A Howard County judge has declared a mistrial in the case of a man charged with strangling a fellow patient at a maximum-security state mental hospital. Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for the Howard County state's attorney's office, says the mistrial was declared Friday afternoon. Jurors had been deliberating for more than 11 hours when the mistrial was declared. Kirwan says prosecutors will retry the case and the second trial is now scheduled to begin July 23. El Soudani El Wahhabi was charged with first- and second-degree murder in the death of Susan Sachs at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in 2010. El Wahhabi testified that he killed Sachs as part of a suicide pact.