In a sort of victory for animal rights activists, the jury is deadlocked in the Rodney Coronado trial in San Diego.

Coronado, who spent 4 years in prison for fireboming an animal research laboratory at Michigan State University, was being tried under a seldom-used federal law that makes it a crime to describe how to make an explosive device with the intent of encouraging a lawless act.

The charges evolved from Coronado’s meeting with a group or vegans in San Diego in 2003 in which he described the device that he used at Michigan State University.