Monday marked the third day of deliberations in the tax fraud case of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, but the jury weighing a number of charges against him again failed to reach a verdict, sparking optimism in Manafort’s legal team.
The 12-member jury will return today at 9:30 am ET, but their verdict must be unanimous for Manafort to be convicted on all 18 charges. The lawyer for Manafort said the former campaign chairman was happy to hear that the jury didn’t reach a verdict and “thinks it was a very good day.”
According to Fox News, long deliberations are often considered a good sign for the defense which believes it demonstrates disagreement among jurors on the defendant’s guilt. A person close to Manafort’s defense team said that the situation was reminiscent of that of the presidential election when the outcome was much different than what everyone expected.
On Monday evening, when they finished deliberations for that day, the jurors refused to comment, but the defense was pleased that predictions of a quick guilty verdict hadn’t come true.
Earlier that day, Manafort’s lawyer said both him and his client were confident and “doing very well.” This is the first trial stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing Russia investigation although Manafort’s case is not related to any election interference or collusion.
The defense team also saw as a positive sign the fact that on Monday jurors didn’t have any questions for the judge as compared to the first trial day Thursday when they did. After hearing the jury’s questions, a source close to the Manafort team said, “We’re in the game.”
If the jury is divided another prosecution would be possible if Judge T.S. Ellis declared a hung jury.
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