The jury in the corruption trial of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez said Thursday it is deadlocked on all charges and is now being interviewed by the judge, one-by-one.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell has requested the judge formally declare a mistrial. “Sometimes you just have to accept that this is the outcome,” he said.
The seven-woman, five-man jury initially told Judge William Walls it was deadlocked Monday after several hours of deliberations. The note Thursday says jurors have reviewed all the evidence “slowly,” in great detail and are not willing to change their positions.
“We have each tried to look at this case from different viewpoints but still feel strongly in our positions, nor are we willing to move away from our strong convictions,” the jury wrote, according to Lowell.
Prosecutor Peter Koski argued passionately in favor of an additional jury instruction that would encourage jurors to consider a partial verdict. But Walls said he was concerned about going down the “slippery slope of coercion” at this stage.
Menendez faces charges of conspiracy, bribery, and honest services fraud related to abusing the power of his office that could carry decades in prison. Prosecutors say the senator accepted more than $600,000 in political contributions, a luxurious hotel suite at the Park Hyatt in Paris, and free rides on a private jet from a wealthy ophthalmologist, Dr. Salomon Melgen, in exchange for political favors.
Both men deny all charges.
Defense lawyers argue that Menendez and Melgen were longtime friends with no corrupt intent to commit a federal crime, and after over two months of testimony, prosecutors never produced a smoking gun in the form of a document, email or incriminating phone call outlining an illicit agreement between the two men.
11-week trial
The trial — which stretched on for 11 weeks — included 57 witnesses and hundreds of exhibits, but the central factual allegations were never in dispute.
“This case really isn’t about what happened,” Lowell told jurors during opening statements. “It’s all about why it happened.”
Prosecutors relied mostly on circumstantial evidence to prove their case — spending the opening weeks of trial painting a jet-setting lifestyle of the rich and powerful before ultimately turning to the “official acts” they argued Menendez did to help his friend.
They accused Menendez of pushing officials to help resolve an $8.9 million Medicare billing dispute in Melgen’s favor, while the defense team claimed at trial that the senator was focused on the fact that the billing policies at issue were conflicting and the drug companies were enjoying a windfall.
Similarly, when several State Department witnesses testified that Menendez has threatened to hold a congressional hearing if they did not intervene in a contract dispute between Melgen and the Dominican Republic over cargo screening at the nation’s ports, the defense said that the senator was troubled by port security more generally.
Last week, a juror excused for a long-planned vacation to the Bahamas telegraphed the divisions in the jury room and predicted a mistrial.
“It’s going to be a hung jury,” said Evelyn Arroyo-Maultsby, who told CNN she would have voted to acquit on all charges if she had stayed on the jury. “I know there’s a few that feel the same way I do and they’re going to hold their own.”
This story is breaking and will be updated.