DECATUR - The jury in the Amanda Hamm murder trial ended deliberations Monday without a decision in the case against the Clinton mother accused of drowning her three children.

The Hamm jury of five women and seven men has deliberated about 24 hours over four days so far. Closing arguments were delivered Wednesday.

Deliberations will resume today.

Hamm is charged with nine counts of first-degree murder in the drowning deaths of Christopher Hamm, 6, Austin Brown, 3, and Kyleigh Hamm, 23 months. The children were in Hamm's car on Sept. 2, 2003, as it rolled down a boat ramp and sank in Clinton Lake.

Hamm's former live-in boyfriend Maurice LaGrone Jr. was convicted of similar murder charges in April by a McLean County jury. The jury in the LaGrone case came back with a guilty verdict after 23 hours of deliberation over four days.

The jury has not submitted any questions to the court this week.

On Friday, the jury passed a lengthy question to DeWitt County Judge Stephen Peters concerning Hamm's possible knowledge of a plan to kill the children. Peters declined to answer the query, telling jurors to rely on the instructions given to them at the start of deliberations.

A large crowd of family members related to the children and Hamm has gathered each day at the Macon County Courts Facility to wait for a verdict. Attorneys for the state and defense and police officers who worked on the case also have been waiting.

Defense attorney Steve Skelton said Monday that the vigil outside the courtroom is a part of the jury process.

"The wait for a verdict is the worst part of a jury trial," Skelton said.

Edith Brady-Lunny can be reached at eblunny@mchsi.com.