A mistrial was declared yesterday when a Circuit Court jury could not reach a unanimous verdict for a Honolulu police civilian employee accused of unauthorized use of computers at the city Medical Examiner's Office in 2005.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins declared the mistrial for Sharon C. Black after the jury said it could not reach a verdict following more than 2 1/2 days of deliberations.

The judge scheduled the retrial for the week of March 27.

Black, 47, was accused of exceeding her authority to use the computers when she was doing research on suicide prevention in July 2005.

She was charged with unauthorized computer access, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison; tampering with a government record, a misdemeanor; and fourth-degree theft, a petty misdemeanor.

Black's defense was that she thought she had authorization and that she did not do anything wrong.

In 2001, Black obtained a $612,000 settlement from the city over her sexual harassment lawsuit against the Police Department, but her defense was precluded from asserting during the trial that the prosecution was in retaliation for that suit.

The prosecution had argued the suit was irrelevant to the criminal case and that the defense could not show a connection between the lawsuit and the prosecution.