Uniform or no uniform, a Sacramento jury couldn't make up its collective mind about an Army National Guard soldier accused of vehicular manslaughter, so a judge Thursday declared a mistrial.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Elena J. Duarte dismissed the jury after it declared itself deadlocked following two days of deliberation in the misdemeanor case of Spc. James Roland Ambler III.

Prosecutors did not say whether they would refile the case.

The sister of the teenager who was killed in the Oct. 2, 2005, traffic accident in which Ambler was the driver expressed reservations about whether the District Attorney's Office should pursue the case again.

"In my honest opinion, I don't know if it should be refiled or not," said Antoya Spann, the sister of Arcenio Kenneth Spann, 17, a close friend of Ambler's who also had planned a military career.

"It's too much," the 24-year-old sister added. "My mom would want it refiled, but I don't know if that would be something good for us. We have to live without Arcenio every day, but now I think it's too much and the case needs to go away.

"It'll never go away, him being gone, but the case, it's just too much."

Jurors told the judge they couldn't budge from a 9-3 vote in favor of Ambler's guilt. Duarte then declared a mistrial, dismissed the five-woman, seven-man panel and set the case for its next court appearance on Tuesday.

Ambler, 22, did not comment on the outcome, nor did his deputy public defender, Deanna Bogdan.

His uniform became an issue when Duarte ruled in favor of Deputy District Attorney Elise Sumnicht's motion to bar Ambler from wearing it during trial. Sumnicht argued the uniform would improperly influence the jury, and the judge agreed.

In an interview last week, Ambler and his supervising officer said he needed to be acquitted in order to join his unit, which is prepared to go to Iraq.

The mistrial leaves Ambler's immediate future in limbo.

"Until there's a final disposition on the case, he won't be allowed to go anywhere," Ambler's noncommissioned officer, Sgt. James Hubbard, said after Duarte's ruling. "He cannot deploy."

Ambler could face up to a year in county jail if convicted.

According to a California Highway Patrol report, Ambler did not have a driver's license the night of the accident that killed Spann.

He and a group of friends were returning from a hamburger run when they approached a vehicle that had slowed on northbound South Watt Avenue at Jackson Highway. Ambler was driving 55 miles per hour in a 45-mph zone. He tried to swerve to the left around the car in front of him, but overcorrected coming back right, lost control and crashed into a tree.

Nobody in Ambler's car had been drinking or using drugs, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The CHP report cited Ambler's speed and an unsafe turning motion in their recommendation to the District Attorney's Office that it file the case as a vehicular manslaughter.

One of the jurors who voted to acquit Ambler said she based her decision on what she described as a lack of evidence on the prosecutor's part.

"It was an accident," juror Patricia Lujan, 51, a state worker, said. "The choice he made was unfortunate."

Lujan described the jury deliberations as "pretty vocal."

"They were pretty strong in how they felt," Lujan said. "Everyone gave their opinion."

Lujan said she was aware Ambler was a soldier because "when we came in, they (the lawyers) talked about it."

She said his military standing never factored into the jurors' deliberations.

"Regardless if you're a policeman, or where you work, you need to be tried on the evidence," Lujan said.

Call Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.