The jury was still out — literally — Wednesday night in a trial against Entergy for the electrocution of a contracted electrician in 2007.

The jurors deliberated until 9:30 p.m. on day three of the trial. At one point, the jury was at an 8-4 split, the foreman said. A majority of nine jurors is required to render a verdict in a civil trial.

The judge gave the weary-looking jurors a chance to continue deliberating Wednesday night or continue Thursday morning. They chose Thursday.

Glennis M. Marsaw, 21, died while working on a Mississippi Department of Transportation light pole near the bridge.

The pole got out of hand, tipped over and made contact with high-voltage Entergy cables.

In his closing arguments, plaintiff’s attorney Bryan Callaway said Entergy was negligent in designing and placing their lines.

“It’s not like a car wreck,” Callaway said. “If you own high-voltage electrical lines, you can’t just hang them in the air. You have to anticipate things are going to move around them and happen around them.”

The MDOT light pole had to come down for maintenance multiple times, something the electric company should have thought about when placing the lines, he said.

“Is it dangerous (to be that close)?” Callaway said. “With my little walking-around sense, it is. They have to protect the public. It’s a very high standard of care when you make money off something that’s dangerous.”

Circuit Judge Lillie Blackmon Sanders dropped similar charges against MDOT, originally another defendant in the case, after the jury heard all the evidence, MDOT attorney John Gordon Roach Jr. said.

Marsaw was working for a private contractor, and he and others failed to follow industry standard procedures and common sense practices, Entergy attorney Jack Price said.

Under Mississippi law, any contractors planning to work within 10 feet of a power line should call the power company, he said.

The men were working in the rain and were one man short of a team, he said.

“You cannot guard against every conceivable thing people can do,” Price said. “We’re not talking about some boys playing with a kite. We’re talking about electricians out there acting foolish. Sadly, someone lost their life, but it’s not Entergy’s fault.”

Wednesday was the trial’s third day. The jury heard from witnesses who talked about their relationships with Marsaw and expert witnesses in the field of electrical engineering.