PROVIDENCE — A judge sent the jurors deliberating the smoke-shop case home for the day yesterday after receiving a note from them — moments after she clarified its question about self-defense.

“Go home. Clear your heads,” Judge Susan E. McGuirl said. “You’re in the best place to make a decision that anyone can be.”

McGuirl, when asked through her clerk, would not say whether the jury was deadlocked. She did tell jurors that she would give them further instructions this morning.

The panel of seven men and five women, plus three alternates, heard testimony from 25 witnesses over 16 days in Providence County Superior Court before beginning deliberations around 11 a.m. Tuesday.

They are weighing 17 misdemeanor counts facing seven Narragansett Indians arrested when the state police raided a tax-free smoke shop the tribe opened on tribal land in Charlestown in July 2003.

The jury asked for a clarification about self-defense around 3 p.m. yesterday. After meeting in chambers with prosecutors and defense lawyers, McGuirl explained that a person may defend himself/herself when the individual has imminent fear of bodily harm.

That person must actually believe he or she is in imminent danger, have grounds to believe so, and must use reasonable force to defend oneself. The person instigating the conflict cannot invoke self-defense, she said.

Moments after receiving the clarification, the jury –– appearing haggard — sent McGuirl another note. The judge excused them for the day shortly after that, reminding them that after listening to the evidence, they were the best equipped people in Rhode Island to rule.

The state police executed a search-and-seizure warrant to stop the tribe from selling tax-free cigarettes two days after the Narragansetts opened the smoke shop. The action turned into a confrontation, captured by TV news crews and photographers.

The tribal members face a combination of charges that include resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, simple assault and obstruction related to the raid.