PHILADELPHIA — Jurors in the federal bribery trial of Philadelphia City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson said Monday that they had reached an impasse and have been unable to render a unanimous verdict after more than 18 hours of deliberations.
But U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh asked the panel of eight men and four women to keep trying, ordering them to report back for a fourth day of debate Tuesday.
“I am not prepared simply to end the process,” the judge said before dismissing the panel for the day just before 4 p.m.
The jury’s note raised the specter that after weeks of testimony and years of investigation, the trial of Johnson and his wife, Dawn Chavous, could end on a decidedly ambiguous note: a deadlocked jury and a mistrial.
But it does not mean that a verdict is unattainable.
Johnson’s attorney, Patrick Egan, said that McHugh would give the jury further instructions when they returned Wednesday.
Johnson and Chavous betrayed no emotion as the news of the impasse was shared with their attorneys in court.
They declined to comment upon leaving the courthouse at the end of the day accompanied by an entourage of family and supporters who have steadily attended every day of the trial. At the start of the day, the group gathered with the councilmember and his wife in a prayer circle outside the courtroom.
Johnson has denied charges that he accepted cash payoffs of nearly $67,000 from two executives of a South Philadelphia nonprofit seeking his help with real estate holdings in his district.
Prosecutors have alleged the bribes were disguised through a sham consulting contract for Chavous, a noted charter schools advocate and politically connected consultant.
Johnson, Chavous and their two codefendants — Rahim Islam and Shahied Dawan, the executives at Universal Companies, an affordable housing non-profit and charter school operator, who are accused of paying the bribes — face two counts each of honest services fraud, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison should they be convicted.
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