Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, has been convicted by a jury on 8 of the 18 felony counts against him, after four days of deliberations. The judge has declared a mistrial on the remaining 10 counts. Earlier Tuesday jurors signaled they were deadlocked on one of the charges, but that appears to have increased.
Manafort, charged with 18 counts of tax evasion, bank fraud, and bank fraud conspiracy, was facing up to 305 years in jail. Experts believed if he were convicted on all counts he could face 7 to 12 years.
The charges are the result of the Robert Mueller investigation into Russia’s attack on the U.S. 2016 election. The trial, which began late last month, is the first judicial test of the special counsel’s work.
On Friday, as jurors went home for the weekend, some reporters asked why they were not sequestered, as Trump had been tweeting in an attempt to influence them.
“The jury not only wasn’t sequestered—jurors mingled freely in the courthouse elevators, cafeteria and hallways with reporters and spectators. I’ve never seen anything like it,” NBC’s Ken Dilanian noted.
Next month Manafort will again be on trial, this time for lying to the FBI, money laundering, and foreign lobbying.