Manafort Trial Day 16: The jury is set to begin its fourth day of deliberations at 9:30am. We haven't gotten any questions from the jurors since the first day, so it's tough to guess where they're at. On yesterday's (non)excitement:
The jury went out to deliberate at 9:37 am (by my watch). No other business was discussed and the judge recessed. Now we wait. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: The Manafort jury may be having trouble reaching a consensus. They sent out a note asking: if they could not reach a consensus "on a single count," how should they fill out the verdict form, and what did that mean for the final verdict? Nothing is final yet, however
The judge instructed them to continue to deliberate, stressing the importance of reaching a conclusion. Before the jury came back in, he told the lawyers that if the jury still couldn't reach consensus on certain counts, he'd consider asking if they had a veridct on others
The judge told the lawyers that it was permissible for a court to accept a partial verdict. But, again, he said we're not there yet — he denied a request by Manafort's lawyer to add an option on the verdict form for the jury to mark if they were hung
Also before the jury came in, the judge noted that this sort of note is not an "exceptional" or "unusual" event. The instruction he gave is one he's given before. He said an important thing at this stage is for the judge not to say or do anything that might coerce the jury
The jury note didn't give a clear sense of how many counts we're dealing with where they may be having trouble reaching a consensus. The note referred to "a single count" but you could take that a few ways — meaning there is just one count at issue, or multiple individual counts
We don't know how long they'll go back out for — the judge said they should take as much time as they need to continue deliberating. The court security officer said the jury's lunch should arrive around 12:15pm, so that's one time marker at least.
NOW: The judge has formally recessed after the jury found Paul Manafort guilty of eight counts — he was convicted of filing false tax returns, failing to report foreign bank accounts, and bank fraud. But the jury also hung on 10 counts within each of those categories
Paul Manafort did not appear to react as the clerk read the jury's decision. He looked straight ahead, stoic. There is no sentencing date yet — the judge gave the government one week to say if it plans to retry Manafort on the 10 counts the jury failed to reach a consensus on
Manafort's attorney Richard Westling asked for 30 days, instead of the usual 14 days, to file any motions for judgment of acquittal or for a new trial. Prosecutor Greg Andres asked for time to file a written response to that request; the judge gave them until Friday at noon
Before the jury left, the judge thanked them, and suggested they consider not talking to the press about deliberations (he cannot order them), saying he thought it did an "injury" to the process. If they did talk, he urged them not to name others who hadn't identified themselves
The judge told the jurors he planned to keep their names under seal, and asked if any of them wished to have the confidentiality lifted. They shook their heads and said no. And then they left.
STORY: After nearly four days of deliberations, Paul Manafort is found guilty of filing false tax returns, failing to report foreign bank accounts, and bank fraud. The jury hung on 10 of 18 counts, concerning the foreign bank account and bank fraud charges buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
What's next after the Manafort verdict? The govt has a week to decide if they want to retry him on the 10 counts the jury couldn't reach consensus on. Manafort's lawyers can move for acquittal or ask for a new trial. And Manafort's DC trial starts soon buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Manafort now goes back to jail. He's been in custody since June, when the judge in DC revoked his pretrial release amid new allegations that he tried to interfere with potential witnesses. He nodded to his wife before being led out of the courtroom today buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
