First 'Russiagate' trial shaking? Jury slow to reach Manafort verdict
After a bizarre trial that saw no mention of Russia, the jury in former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s fraud trial is still deliberating, spelling bad news for Robert Mueller’s “Russiagate” prosecutors.
Holed up on the ninth floor of a federal district courthouse in Virginia, jurors began deliberating on Manafort’s case last Thursday. Manafort, the former chairman of President Trump’s 2016 election campaign, is charged with bank and tax fraud offenses from over a decade ago, when he lobbied for former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. If found guilty, he could face a maximum sentence of more than 300 years in prison.
His was the first trial to stem from White House Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ‘Russiagate’ investigation, despite the fact that his charges are in no way related to Russia or to alleged ‘Russian collusion.’
The deliberation process in high-profile cases can be as short as four hours - as was the case in O.J. Simpson’s 1995 murder trial; or as long as six days - as was the case when Bill Cosby’s first trial for sexual assault ended in mistrial. Generally speaking, the longer the deliberation, the better the chance of a not guilty verdict.
“Certainly each passing day gives the defense more reason to hope that at least one juror remains unpersuaded by the government’s case,” former federal prosecutor Robert Mintz told ABC News. “If you are the prosecution, you may be concerned.”
On Tuesday, the jury asked Judge TS Ellis how to fill out a verdict form if they could not come to a unanimous conclusion on one of the 18 counts Mueller is charged with, and requested a new verdict form. Ellis replied that if they could not reach a unanimous conclusion on one count, he would ask them to try reach consensus on the others.
Another confusing detail from last week - jurors presented four puzzling questions to Judge TS Ellis. In a note to Ellis, jurors asked if the judge could specify whether FBAR reports - foreign bank and financial reports which Manafort is accused of failing to file - actually needed to be filed by a person with less than 50 percent ownership. They also asked the judge to define what a ‘shelf company’ is; what the phrase ‘reasonable doubt’ means; and whether Ellis could include Mueller’s indictment as an exhibit, so they could see how the evidence matched the indictment.
The questions indicate that the jury is questioning the fundamentals of Mueller’s case, and gives the defense hope. “Overall, a very good day for Mr. Manafort,” defense lawyer Kevin Downing told reporters outside the courthouse.
Amid the hyper-partisan atmosphere of US politics, and with Mueller’s credibility resting on this case, Judge TS Ellis said last week that he had received threats, and now travels under the protection of US Marshals.
Ellis spoke of the threats on Friday, telling attorneys that the threats he received brought criticism “to a new level.” The judge refused requests from the media to reveal the identities of the jurors, saying “I don’t feel right if I release their names,” as to do so would open them up to threats.
The Washington Post, New York Times, AP, CNN, NBC, Politico and BuzzFeed filed a motion to unseal the jurors’ names and addresses, in a move to turn up the pressure as deliberations continued late last week.
All 12 members of the jury must deliver a unanimous verdict to convict or free Manafort. If the jury finds itself hopelessly deadlocked, either a mistrial will occur, or the judge can issue what is known as an ‘Allen charge,’ and demand that the jury continues deliberating.
As it stands, the jury may simply be going through the mountain of evidence presented by the Mueller team. 388 individual exhibits, including one document of over 700 pages, are all up for review.
In the absence of any evidence of ‘Russian collusion’, Mueller has sought to present Manafort as a man who enriched himself while dodging his taxes, and showed the jury Manafort’s extensive collection of designer clothes, and his multiple properties to try to sway a guilty verdict.
President Trump has weighed in on Manafort’s side, and has called the former campaign chair’s trial “a hoax.” “I think the whole Manafort trial is very sad,” the president told reporters outside the White House on Friday.
Paul Manafort worked for Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other highly prominent and respected political leaders. He worked for me for a very short time. Why didn’t government tell me that he was under investigation. These old charges have nothing to do with Collusion - a Hoax!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2018
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