Superior Court Judge John M. Newson declared a mistrial in the case of Stonington lobsterman Justin Maderia Friday after a six-member jury told the court it was unable to reach a unanimous decision.

Maderia, 28, captain of the Lindy fishing boat, had represented himself at trial for allegedly possessing four lobsters short of the 33/8-inch minimum in January 2014. He and his brother, Travis Maderia, fourth-generation lobstermen, operate the business Lobsterboys out of Stonington harbor.

“It doesn’t mean you’re acquitted,” the judge told Maderia. “It doesn’t mean you’re guilty. This is a ‘no result.’”

Prosecutor Sarah E. Steere, who has the option of trying the case again, declined to comment. She shook hands with Maderia before he left the courthouse with his brother, “This case is all speculation,” Maderia said during a phone conversation later. “The state did not apply factual evidence, simply because there is none.”

In taking the case to trial, he rejected the state’s offer to plead guilty to four misdemeanor charges in exchange for a $100 fine.

Admitting he was overwhelmed at times by the legal concepts, Maderia, who received instruction from the judge, had testified on his own behalf and called his brother to the witness stand.

“No evidence that was presented to you shows I was in possession and control of undersized lobsters,” he said in his closing argument.

The jury of five women and one man started deliberating at about 11:30 a.m. They sent out two notes during the afternoon asking for further instruction on the legal definition of “possession” and whether a boat captain is responsible for knowing if there are short lobsters on his vessel. They notified the judge about 3:40 p.m. that they could not come to a unanimous decision. Newson instructed them to try again to reach a consensus. They told him at 4:55 p.m. that they remained deadlocked.

Department of Energy and Environmental conservation Officer Gregory Ulkus had testified that he received information that Pawcatuck business Seafood Etc. was illegally buying lobsters from the Maderia brothers. He said he watched the Lindy coming into Stonington harbor and then followed Maderia in an unmarked car to Seafood Etc. When he arrived at the store, Ulkus testified, Justin and Travis Maderia were placing lobsters from a tote into a tank.

Ulkus said he noticed the lobsters were short and began measuring them. The brothers disputed his technique, and another officer arrived to help measure the lobsters. Though Justin Maderia was initially charged with having 12 undersized lobsters, the state tried him on four charges of violating the size regulation. With the same gauge he said he used to measure more than 1,000 lobsters during his career, Ulkus demonstrated the gauging technique for the jury using two live lobsters.

Maderia argued the lobsters he caught that day got mixed in with lobsters that Travis Maderia, a seafood dealer, had purchased from another source.

“Had the conservation officer been present at the town dock on Jan. 27, 2014, he could have inspected my boat and my holding tanks like they had done several times before,” he said in his closing argument.

The prosecutor said Justin Maderia had told the officers that day that the waters were rough that day and his brother had not measured the lobsters.

“Never once did Justin Maderia indicate to DEEP that day that he mixed the lobsters in with others that had been imported,” Steere said in her closing argument.

If convicted, Maderia faces 30 days in prison for each of the four charges. He was initially exposed to a year in prison before the state reduced the charges from 12 to four.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN