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Thursday, August 16, 2018

A Bad Day For The Mueller Team

The jury in the Manafort case asked the judge today to repeat the definition of "reasonable doubt".  The judge gave the answer and then the jury stopped deliberating for the day.  There were three other questions from the jury, but the only one that really matters is the one about reasonable doubt.  Any criminal defense lawyer will tell you that this is a very good sign for the defendant.  It normally means that a juror or many jurors have doubts about whether the government proved its case and the discussion is centered on whether or not those doubts are significant enough to bar a guilty verdict.  Normally, if the question is being asked, at least one juror has significant doubts.

I didn't hear the testimony or see the documents in this trial, so I can't tell how strong a case the prosecution presented.  I do know, however, that if team Mueller ends up with a hung jury or a not-guilty verdict, it will be a major disaster for them. 

It will be extremely interesting to see how this plays out.

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