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Unsealed Manafort trial records reveal drama over juror comments

During the Paul Manafort Trial, a juror told the court security officer she was concerned with that another juror's comments about the defense 'crossed the line.'
Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, exits the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse, February 28, 2018 in Washington, DC.

WASHINGTON — On the eve of closing arguments in the financial fraud trial of Paul Manafort, a federal judge reviewed a complaint that one juror and possibly others had disparaged the defense team’s case, raising questions about whether there should be a declaration of a mistrial.

The drama was revealed in transcripts of previously sealed conferences involving U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, prosecutors and Manafort’s defense team who had grown increasingly worried that jury room commentary during breaks in the trial had compromised the panel.

As is standard courtroom practice, jurors in the Manafort trial were instructed not to discuss the case with one or another until after both the defense and prosecution had offered all of their evidence and presented final arguments.

Behind closed doors and during lengthy conferences at the bench, Ellis and attorneys huddled for hours.

The judge questioned each of the jurors in private, including one panelist who had raised a complaint and a second juror who had allegedly made comments critical of the defense. The second juror, a woman, suggested that her comments had been mis-characterized.

Ultimately, Ellis said he felt satisfied that the case could move ahead.

"What I know thus far doesn't warrant declaring a mistrial," Ellis told the attorneys Aug. 14.

In the end, the jury returned guilty verdicts on eight counts and remained deadlocked on 10 others.

The initial concerns had been raised when Ellis told the lawyers that a juror had contacted the court security officer to relay unease with another juror's comments, suggesting that she was "unimpressed" with the defense.

While prosecutors proposed that the judge admonish the panel that they refrain from discussing the case until all the evidence was in, defense attorneys pushed for Ellis to intervene.

“This clearly is crossing the line if it, in fact, happened,” Manafort attorney Richard Westling told Ellis, indicating that the juror had abandoned Manafort's presumption of innocence.

Preventing 'pandemonium'

Seeking to avoid any immediate public disclosure that might "create pandemonium in the media today," Ellis questioned the jurors in private – but with a court reporter present – so that the transcript could be made public eventually.

According to the transcripts, the complaining juror, a woman, heard another juror say: “I don’t believe the defense has … much of a case... they don’t have much to present or to refute what’s already occurred.”

"Basically, my understanding was that she had essentially made up her mind regarding the case based on the information presented to her thus far," the complaining juror told the judge. She said she told the other juror they had a responsibility to hear everything before deciding.

The juror also added that she had heard other panelists discussing the case, "not necessarily for one side or the other but just talking too much about the case.”

Ellis later called the woman back for additional questioning to elaborate on her earlier remarks.

At that point, according to the transcripts, the woman said about three jurors in all were "talking" but she didn't believe that "anybody is taking sides per se."

But she believed that the specific comments about Manafort's defense had "crossed the line."

When Ellis questioned the panelist who had allegedly made the specific comments, the juror denied it.

"I was just saying it would be tough to be a defense lawyer, that's all," the juror told Ellis.

Ellis then reminded her that he’d instructed jurors to keep an open mind until the end of the trial.

“I am trying to do that, sir,” she responded.

“Are you succeeding?”

“Yes, I think so,” she said.

Presumption of innocence

She said she understood that Manafort is presumed innocent. At the urging of Manafort’s lawyers, Ellis asked her directly about what the other juror had said, and she said that she didn’t think that’s what she had said.

He reminded her not to make up her mind until all the evidence is in. “Are you prepared to do that?”

“Yes sir,” she said.

Release of the transcripts come as juror Paula Duncan said in an interview with Fox News that a lone panelist blocked the former Trump campaign chairman's conviction on all 18 counts.

In an interview, Duncan described an emotional ordeal over four days in which panel members attempted to persuade an unidentified colleague of the overwhelming evidence against Manafort.

"It was one person who kept the verdict from being guilty on all 18 counts," Duncan said.

Duncan, who described herself in the interview as a supporter of President Donald Trump, said the hundreds of exhibits amassed by prosecutors to support the bank and tax fraud case convinced her of Manafort's guilt. Still, she questioned prosecutors' motives in bringing the case.

"Certainly, Mr. Manafort got caught breaking the law, but he wouldn't have gotten caught if they weren't after President Trump," the juror said, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller's team, whose case against Manafort marked the first contested prosecution to emerge from a 15-month investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and obstruction of that probe.

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