Jurors in the Rod Blagojevich corruption trial sent another note to the judge Monday, their 13th day of deliberations, after taking a three-day weekend.
The judge called attorneys to court for a hearing on a question from the jury. No official time was set for the meeting.
Last Thursday, the jurors sent a note to the judge that they had reached agreement on just 2 of the 24 counts. They said they were deadlocked on 11 counts and had not even begun deliberations on 11 other wire fraud counts against the ex-governor and his brother.
Experts are weighing in on what the long deliberations could mean for Blagojevich. Many think that it shows the prosecution did not do a good job of proving their case, and the deadlock helps the Blagojevich brothers. Others point out that if the two counts the jury agrees upon are guilty verdicts, it might not matter if the jury cannot agree on the other 22.
Judge James Zagel told the jury that they had to keep deliberating and at least take a vote on all the counts before he makes another move. If they are still deadlocked, he could issue what’s called an Allen charge, in which the judge tells jurors to try again to reach a unanimous decision.
Zagel will be careful with how far he pushes the jury, though, because verdicts in the circuit have been overturned before because the judge was found to be “coercive of unanimity.”
If the jury is deadlocked, it is possible the prosecution will opt to retry Blagojevich.
On Thursday, Blagojevich came to the courthouse to hear the jury’s note and then waited at the courthouse until they went home. To pass the time, he played 80s trivia in the cafeteria of the building.
A crowd gathered after an NBC producer walked over to play Scene it? with an attorney on Blagojevich’s team, and the governor did quite well, according to the Chicago Sun-Times .
One of the questions only he could answer: “What was the only major league baseball team to win the World Series twice in the 1980s?”
Blagojevich correctly answered the L.A. Dodgers. He did well in politics, sports and history questions. His wife helped him out on some entertainment.
Originally reported by FOX News Chicago. Read the original article here.