Judge declares mistrial in Menendez prosecution
Source: The Washington Post
By Alan Maimon and Devlin Barrett November 16 at 12:41 PM
NEWARK — The bribery trial of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) appeared headed for a mistrial after the jury on Thursday said for a second time it could not reach a verdict.
“We cannot reach a unanimous decision,’’ the jury said in a note late Thursday morning. “Nor are we willing to move away from our strong convictions.”
After receiving the note, U.S. District Court Judge William Walls decided to interview the jury foreman privately with the attorneys in the case before deciding the next step.
The jury note did not specify if the jurors were split on all counts. Prosecutors asked the judge to instruct jurors that they could issue a partial verdict on some counts, but the judge declined, saying that would be “going down the slippery slope of coercion.’’
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/menendez-jury-says-again-that-it-is-deadlocked/2017/11/16/c6ae9096-c951-11e7-aa96-54417592cf72_story.html
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