Day 5 Of Deliberations In City Hall Corruption Trial

The federal trial of Chris Wright, City Councilman Jack Kelly's former chief of staff, and three political allies was predicted to run two weeks when it started last month.  Given the uncertainties of jurisprudence at work, it seemed safe to assume delays and debate could stretch that to three weeks.  So there is some surprise in the courtroom to find the trial entering its fifth week today.  The reason?  A jury diligently deliberating through an apparent disagreement on the 38 criminal counts faced by Wright, attorney Andy Teitelman and developers Hardeep and Ravinder Chawla.

The jury of six men and six women told U.S. District Justice Eduardo Robreno on Thursday that they had reached verdicts on more than half of those charges but were deadlocked on the remaining counts.  The juror foreman said they were not giving up.  So here we are again.

Wright is accused of accepting bribes of $1,000, a rent-free apartment and free legal services from Teitelman, Kelly's one-time campaign treasurer, and the Chawla brothers, the most generous donors for the councilman's campaigns.

Check back here today for updates on the trial.

UPDATE, 11:55 am:  The jury, deliberating almost three hours this morning, has ordered lunch.  They've been very quiet this morning, unlike last week when they asked for copies of evidence and sent questions by note to the judge.

UPDATE, 2:45 pm:  We still haven't heard a peep from the jurors.  Defense attorneys have requested a conversation with the judge at 3 p.m. to discuss what, if anything, should be done about the jury.  They want to make sure the jury understands that it can deliver verdicts on some of the counts if they can't reach verdicts on all of the counts.

UPDATE, 3 pm:  The jury may have been thinking the same thing.  They have apparently sent another question to the judge by note.  We haven't seen it yet but speculation in the courtroom is the jury wants to know if they can complete some verdicts and deadlock on others.

UPDATE, 3:10 pm:  Or not.  Turns out, the jury wants to know if it has seen all the evidence on "Count number 4."  That is a wire fraud count against Wright, Teitelman and Ravinder Chawla.  Prosecutors claim Wright tried to help Chawla and Teitelman on a zoning ordinance impacting the proposed "Philadelphia River City" development in Center City.  The feds have introduced a series of e-mails where the three men discussed the potential impact of an ordinance introduced by City Councilman Darrell Clarke that capped the allowable height of buildings in an area close to the Schuylkill River.

UPDATE, 3:15 pm:  Robreno, after conferring with the prosecutors and defense attorneys, is sending the jury a note telling them that they have to consider all the evidence on count four.  He is also offering to show them evidence if they make specific requests for what they want to examine.

UPDATE, 4:15 pm:  The jury just sent a note to the judge, asking to be dismissed for the day.   Robreno is sending them home.  We'll pick back up tomorrow morning.