ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A jury has deadlocked and a mistrial has been declared in a northern Virginia murder case in which the defendant said he thought his victim was a werewolf.

WRC-TV in Washington reports that the judge dismissed the jurors Wednesday after three days of deliberations in Alexandria Circuit Court in the trial of 34-year-old Pankaj Bhasin.

He was charged with murder in the July 13 death of 65-year-old Bradford Jackson, who managed a window store in Old Town Alexandria. His neck was broken and he was stabbed more than 50 times with a box cutter.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed Bhasin was mentally ill, but prosecutors disputed that Bhasin was legally insane.

Bhasin’s lawyers said their client was suffering delusions after checking out of a mental hospital near his New Jersey home.