A federal judge in Washington, D.C. plans to declare a mistrial on seven of eight counts in the case of top Jack Abramoff operative Kevin Ring, the Legal Times reports.
Ring was indicted last year on charges of bribing government officials and members of Congress with meals and event tickets in return for help for clients of Abramoff’s lobbying firm.
The Legal Times reports:
After more than seven days of deliberations, jurors in the case this morning delivered a note to U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the District of Columbia explaining that they were still deadlocked on seven of eight counts. It was the third day in a row that jurors had reported an impasse. Previously, the judge had ordered them to continue deliberating.
The judge has ordered the jury to continue deliberating on an eighth count.
In a note posted today, the jury told the judge it simply could not reach a verdict:
After earnest discussion, strongly felt positions, diametrically opposed, placed us at the same impasse. We honestly feel like we are unlikely to change our stances. We do not see how we can reach a verdict.
In late September, former California congressman John Doolittle was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.
TPMmuckraker’s full coverage of the trial is here.
Late Update: National Journal‘s Under the Influence blog has more details. That eighth count is a charge of honest services fraud involving Doolittle’s wife.
