Paul Manafort found guilty on eight counts

Posted By: Channel 8 Eyewitness News

8@klkntv.com

The jury has reached a verdict eight counts of the 18 in the financial crimes trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

As deliberations dragged into a fourth day in the financial crimes trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, speculation about how to interpret the jury’s pace grew more frenzied. But the closed nature of the proceedings meant even seasoned veterans could only guess.

"Certainly each passing day gives the defense more reason to hope that at least one juror remains unpersuaded by the government’s case," former federal prosecutor Robert Mintz told ABC News. "If you are the prosecution, you may be concerned, but you are certainly not yet alarmed."

Jurors began deliberating last Thursday morning. In the days since, the panel has largely kept to themselves in a secluded room on the ninth floor of the federal district courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia.

Special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors secured an 18-count indictment on tax- and bank-fraud charges against Manafort, who faces more than 300 years in prison if found guilty on all counts, though legal experts tell ABC News that a far lesser sentence would be expected.

Manafort, 69, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

An exception to the jury’s closed-off deliberation came last Thursday afternoon, when jurors sent a note with questions to Judge T.S. Ellis, the federal judge overseeing Manafort’s Virginia case. In their note, jurors asked Judge Ellis to define "reasonable doubt."

Ellis clarified to jurors that the prosecution is not required to find "guilt beyond all possible doubt," but defined reasonable doubt as a "doubt based on reason."

Just before noon on Tuesday, jurors sent a question to the judge asking how to proceed if the panel could not come to a consensus on a single count. Ellis told the court that jurors’ question “is not unusual in a jury trial,” and it was not immediately clear whether jurors had reached a unanimous verdict on the other counts.

Ellis suggested that jurors be willing to “re-examine and reconsider” their positions and deliberate with “candor and frankness.” After less than ten minutes in the courtroom, Ellis sent jurors back to continue deliberating.