Jury in Manafort trial: What if we can’t agree on 1 count?

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The jury in the financial fraud trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort asked the judge Tuesday what it should do if it cannot reach a consensus for a single count in the case.

Jurors posed the question to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III on their fourth day of deliberations, asking how they should fill in the verdict form if they are unable to agree on one of the charges.

The jury in Alexandria, Virginia is weighing 18 counts against Manafort, who is accused of hiding millions of dollars in foreign income from Ukraine and of lying on loan applications to maintain a lavish lifestyle.

Manafort’s attorneys called no witnesses in his defense, arguing prosecutors failed to meet their burden of proof.

The question was the first word from the jury since last Thursday when they asked for clarity in several areas, including for a definition of the legal concept of reasonable doubt.

In response to Tuesday’s question, the judge said he would not yet ask the jurors where they stood on the indictment.

The trial is the first courtroom test of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, though the case doesn’t involve allegations of Russian election interference.