Day 8 Of Deliberations Over For Blago Jury, Still No Verdict
Updated 06/22/11 - 4:07 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The jury in Rod Blagojevich's corruption retrial wrapped up its 8th day of deliberations on Wednesday without reaching a verdict.
Jurors went home around 4 p.m. Wednesday without any communication with the judge.
The panel of 11 women and one man hasn't sent any notes to the judge since last Thursday, the fifth day of deliberations, when jurors asked for clarification on an instruction relating to the 10 wire fraud charges against the former governor.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel sent a note back telling the jury to re-read their instructions and, if they still needed clarification, they should spend another note indicating exactly what they needed cleared up.
But the jury hasn't been heard from since. It's unclear if they are stuck on some or all of the 20 charges against Blagojevich or if they are just being throrough in going through the evidence.
It's not unusual for a jury to go several days without communicating about their deliberations.
At Blagojevich's first trial, the jury went a stretch of eight days without sending the judge any notes or questions. However, after that long stretch of silence, they sent Zagel a note stating that they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on some of the counts and asked for his advice on how to proceed. A few days later, after 14 total days of deliberations, they announced that they had reached a verdict on only one count and were deadlocked on 23 other charges.
At his retrial, Blagojevich is facing 20 counts, including 10 wire fraud counts and various extortion and bribery charges. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
--Todd Feurer, CBS 2 Web Producer
