By FRED SHUSTER | City News Service
Jurors in the trial of suspended L.A. City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who faces a slate of federal charges, concluded a long day of deliberations on Wednesday, March 29, without reaching a verdict, but they left the courthouse after submitting another question for the judge to be answered Thursday.
In a series of notes sent to U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer during deliberations, the panel expressed confusion over the elements and definition of bribery charges alleged by prosecutors to be at the heart of the complex case.
Jurors also questioned whether taking “an official action where one of the motives is to influence county business” is unlawful. As an answer to several queries, the judge told panelists to simply “refer back to the jury instructions previously given.”
At about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the panel sent a note to the judge asking for more information about the components of the honest services fraud charge, of which Ridley-Thomas is facing more than a dozen counts. The judge asked attorneys on both sides to fashion a response to be discussed and delivered Thursday morning when the jury returns to resume deliberating.
The jury has sent 11 notes to the judge since starting deliberations Friday.
It seems that not even Fischer wanted to try to divine which way the panel is leaning based on the questions. At one point in a previous session —out of the presence of the jury — she said she had given up trying to predict what the questions suggest about those asking.
On Wednesday, the panel deliberated until 4:30 p.m., two hours beyond its usual stop time, possibly hinting that a verdict might be near. But the panel still left for the day without a verdict.
Before the crowd of trial-watchers — consisting mostly of Ridley-Thomas supporters — entered the courtroom late Friday to hear the jury’s latest question, the defendant thanked those who have remained at the courthouse throughout the jury’s…
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