United States Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., center, leaves federal court following the day's proceedings in his bribery trial Monday, July 15, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Larry Neumeister)
A jury deliberating over 18 charges at the bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez in New York City asked the judge on Monday if unanimity is required to acquit “on a single count.” Hours later they recessed for the day without reaching a verdict.
The jurors sent the note after resuming discussions Monday morning in Manhattan federal court, following their first three hours of deliberations on Friday. The corruption trial for the New Jersey Democrat is in its 10th week.
Their written note asked: “Does a not guilty verdict on a single count require unanimity?”
After consulting with lawyers in the case, Judge Sidney H. Stein responded: “Jury, your vote — whether guilty or not guilty — must be unanimous as to each count and to each defendant.”
After lunch, jurors sent another note asking for clarification on one of the counts and lawyers and the judge took over an hour to prepare a response.
Jury deliberations were to resume Tuesday morning.
Menendez is charged in 16 of 18 counts in an indictment first returned last fall.
As he left the courthouse Monday and walked to a waiting car, Menendez turned briefly toward reporters and news cameras and said: “It’s obvious that the government’s case is not as simple as they made it to be. It’s not as simple as they made it to be. The jury’s finding that out.”
Menendez, 70, has denied charges that he engaged in a bribery scheme from 2018 to 2023 to benefit three New Jersey businessmen, including by serving as a foreign agent for the government of Egypt.
He and two businessmen who allegedly paid him bribes of gold and cash have pleaded not guilty.
As he left the courthouse on Friday, Menendez told reporters, “I have faith in God and in the jury.”
Last week, lawyers spent more than 15 hours delivering closing arguments as they encouraged jurors to carefully review hundreds of exhibits and hours of testimony.
Prosecutors put a heavy emphasis in their closing arguments on nearly $150,000 of gold bars and over $480,000 in cash seized from the Menendez home during a 2022 FBI raid. They say the valuables were bribe proceeds, along with a Mercedes-Benz convertible found in the couple’s garage.
They also insisted there were multiple ways in which Menendez seemed to serve as an agent of Egypt.
Lawyers for Menendez insisted the three-term senator never accepted bribes and that actions he took to benefit the businessmen were the kinds of tasks expected of a public official.
They said his actions helped speed $99 million in military shipments of helicopter ammunition to Egypt, while other communications he carried out with Egyptian officials were also part of his job as a senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position he was forced to relinquish after charges were announced last fall.
Menendez announced several weeks ago that he plans to run for reelection this year as an independent.