A Wilmington jury Thursday found Roman Shankaras not guilty of murder and all other charges stemming from the 2017 takeover of James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, the latest defeat for state prosecutors in the high-profile case.

Shankaras, who had been portrayed by prosecutors of being the “puppet master” driving the plot to overtake the Smyrna prison, became the seventh inmate out of eight so far to avoid a murder convictions in the death of Lt. Stephen Floyd, a veteran corrections officer who was killed during the 18-hour siege.

Representatives of the Delaware court system confirmed the verdict shortly after it was read around 3 p.m.

Attorneys from the Delaware Department of Justice have been plagued in the case by conflicting witness testimony and a lack of physical evidence linking individual inmates to Floyd's death. To date, only one inmate has been found guilty, while prosecutors have struggled to prove their key theory of accomplice liability, which is typically considered a powerful tool for the state in complex criminal prosecutions.

In March, the DOJ announced that it would drop charges against six of the remaining nine defendants in the case, leaving just Shankaras and two other Vaughn prisoners left to stand trial on charges of murder, riot, conspiracy and kidnapping.

The DOJ declined to comment Thursday on the Shankaras verdict or the planned trials of inmates Lawrence Michaels and Alejandro Rodriguez-Ortiz, which are slated for October.

Patrick Collins, of Collins & Associates in Wilmington, who represented Shankaras at trial, said his client was ordered to be released from custody after serving out his sentence on his underlying conviction. If convicted of first-degree murder, he would have faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

“Both Roman and I are very thankful to the jury for all their hard work, and we're very relieved with the verdict,” Collins said.

Shankaras was originally included in the first group of inmates to be tried for Floyd's murder last fall, but was severed from the case over disagreements with the attorney that had been assigned to his defense.

A jury in the first trial convicted Dwayne Staats, who admitted to planning the takeover to protest prison conditions, on two counts of murder, as well as riot, kidnapping, assault and conspiracy. His co-defendants, Jarreau Ayers and Deric Forney, were both found not guilty of murder, though Ayers was convicted on the lesser charges. Forney, who denied any involvement in the uprising, was acquitted of all charges.

A second trial resulted in no guilty verdicts for any of the four inmates tried earlier this year.

Collins said that Shankaras was an outlier from the other cases because the state had not accused him of being “hands on” with any of the victims. Rather, prosecutors relied heavily on the testimony of its star witness, fellow inmate Royal Downs, who said Shankaras had been a “puppet master” during the takeover, directing the actions of other prisoners.

Under the theory of accomplice liability, prosecutors argued that since Shankaras was involved in carrying out the riot, he could also be convicted of any other foreseeable crimes that occurred as a result of that underlying offense.

“The state couldn't prove that beyond a reasonable doubt,” Collins said.

Two other guards were taken hostage and suffered serious injuries during the 2017 ordeal but were later released during negotiations with the Delaware State Police. A fourth victim, prison counselor Patricia May, was not injured and was eventually freed around 5 a.m. Feb. 2, when authorities stormed the building and finally ended the uprising.