Okay, what happens next? That’s the question. A day after that mistrial in the federal corruption case against Philadelphia City Council member Kenyatta Johnson and his wife, NBC 10.
Lauren Mayk was in the courtroom when the trial ended, and today she went to the Council members district to hear what but his constituents are thinking about all of this, and this mistrial does not end the case, Lauren, does it?
Yeah, not necessarily. Guys, we could see a second trial. In fact, the US Attorney’s office says they are committed to doing that. What we do not know is how quickly that could happen. This case has already stretched more than two years since the charges came out.
Is this justice at this point after a mistrial in a federal corruption case, a flurry of reaction and promises fighting on behalf of the residents? I represent the second Council medication the day after jurors could not agree on whether Council member Kenyatta Johnson was guilty or not in a bribery scheme alleged by prosecutors. We went to his district in South Philadelphia.
I just prayed that he’s not guilty. And the fact that they were a hung jury tells me that others feel that way or they would have been able to come to a conclusion. So there’s some doubt there.
The trial lasted nearly four weeks, but the indictment came down back in January of 2020.
What was it like for people in his district to watch all of this play out?
It was kind of nerve wracking. For those I’ve spoken to, we don’t feel that it’s true. We feel that in all of these years now, they’ve gone back to dig something up that may not have even been true. And we want him to be found innocent as we believe he is, so he can get back to the work that he’s been so successful in doing and making life better. For many people like myself.
The case, though, could go back to court with the government now saying they’re committed to retrying the case.
I’m not surprised that they said they actually are going to retry this case.
Enrique Latoison is a criminal defense attorney not involved in the case. He says a second trial could look different.
We saw this in the Cosby case. Cosby One ended up in a hung jury. Cosby two, the prosecution ended up filing a motion to get many more alleged victims or witnesses to testify in that case against Mr. Cosby.
But he says there’s also a possibility there is not a second trial.
Sometimes what happens is when you get to a second version of that trial, some of the witnesses or some of the evidence that you might have had that you were able to present at the first trial no longer is around. For whatever reason.
Right now, he expects both sides have a similar goal to hear from the jury.
They always want to know what was the actual cap here. How close were we to winning or how close where we were to losing and to find out from the jury. They are the best people to tell you what the problems with your case and the strengths of your case were.
And, you know, there was a case against a local politician that prosecutors initially said they would retry after a hung jury, and then they decided not to. That was the case involving New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez. Ultimately, the Justice Department decided not to retry that case. I’m Lauren Mayk, NBC 10 News.
This is NBC 10 News right now on NBC 10 News. What’s next? After that jury couldn’t reach a verdict in Philadelphia, Council member Kenyatta Johnson’s federal corruption case yesterday. The question is where does this go from here? The government says it is committed to retrying the case, but that would mean a do over that could stretch out the saga even longer.
Yeah. NBC 10’s Lauren Mayk has been talking to representatives for Johnson and the US Attorney’s office.
All right.
What would that new trial look like or mean?
Yeah, guys, it would mean a brand new jury. That old jury has been dismissed at this point, but it would not necessarily mean the exact same thing would play out in court for a second time. We could see something that looks a little different.
I want to thank all of my family, friends and supporters for just praying for us and showing your support during this very stressful time.
Council member Kenyatta Johnson, after more than two years under federal indictment, nearly four weeks of a trial and 25 hours of jury deliberation that ended in a mistrial, he left court with no conviction but no acquittal and the possibility of another trial hanging over him for they’ve reelected you it’s a lot of times more than six months ago when another Council member.
Bobby Henon, left trial after being convicted in a different corruption case that case had a lot of wiretaps and they had recordings and they had cooperating witnesses. They had other things. And that case was a lot stronger and it was a different kind of case to put together.
Enrique Latoison is a criminal defense attorney not involved in either case.
I’m not surprised that this came out with at least a hung jury at this point.
The US Attorney’s office has said it is committed to retrying the Johnson bribery case. Latoison says a second case, though, could look different.
Could they actually enter new evidence?
Well, they could enter a new strategy. Any evidence that was supposed to have been turned over has to already have been turned over. However, there are situations where sometimes witnesses now appear or people that didn’t want to cooperate now want to cooperate, or people who did cooperate no longer want to cooperate.
He also says he’s seen situations when the government initially says it will retry a case, then does not.
We’re going to try to retry.
I guarantee he’ll win in Johnson’s district which includes South Philadelphia and Point Breeze we found support and confidence in the Council member who remains serving on Council as the city and neighborhoods in his district deal with other challenges.
He’S helping the community and I just hope he get back to helping the community more. We need to stop this violence out here and help these people like Kenyatta and other people that stop the violence with these kids.
So we did find support for him today. I also spoke with another man who said that he does not think that things will end up well for Council member Johnson but of course we will have to wait and see. Now I talked to the US Attorney’s office. I asked them if they have to file something within a certain amount of time but I have not gotten an answer on that the Attorney’s Johnson and his wife Dawn Chavous well they have said that they will have more to say in the coming weeks and that they hope that the government declines to retry the case against the couple. I’m Lauren Mayk NBC 10 news.
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