The federal jury trial of Paul Manafort may be headed for a hung jury, reports say.
A hung jury would be a major win for President Trump, and a tremendous blow to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The jury’s question did not make it clear what the status of deliberations is.
According to Politico:
“In a note sent just after 11 a.m. on their fourth day of deliberations, jurors asked U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III for help on what to do in this situation.
Reading from a standard instruction for jurors, Ellis essentially encouraged the group to keep trying.
The wording of the jury’s note created some confusion over how many counts are holding up the jury. Manafort is facing 18 total counts in the first trial to occur as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The full note, as read by the judge, said: “Your honor, if we can not come to a consensus on a single count, how should we fill [in] the jury verdict form for that count? What does it mean for the final verdict? We will need another form, please.”
It was not entirely clear whether the jury’s reference to a “single count” was intended to signify that they were in disagreement on only one count, or whether they were asking about the procedure for any count where they might be deadlocked.”
