No Verdict In Menendez Bribery Trial, As Jury Loses A Member
NEWARK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The third full day of jury deliberations in Sen. Bob Menendez's bribery trial ended without a verdict and the panel of 12 losing a member.
Jurors deliberated for about an hour Monday afternoon then all day Tuesday and Wednesday. Since they didn't reach a verdict Thursday, they'll have to start anew on Monday.
One of the jurors has a scheduled vacation and the judge said he'll replace that panelist with an alternate. Court will be closed on Friday for Veterans Day.
The excused juror, Evelyn Arroyo, spoke outside the courthouse Thursday, saying she would have found the senator not guilty.
"What I saw, the government didn't give me enough," she said. "So I think the defense showed me enough to say he's not guilty on every count."
Menendez spoke briefly as he entered court Thursday morning and said he's trying to be patient, 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reported.
"The jury has family, children, jobs," he said. "I get after nine weeks, 60 witnesses, hundreds of pages that they're doing their job. I'm happy to wait for the jury to come to a just verdict."
Menendez is charged with accepting gifts from Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen over several years in exchange for helping Melgen advance his business interests by exerting pressure on government officials.
The two men face multiple bribery and fraud charges and Menendez also is charged with making false statements on Senate forms by not disclosing Melgen's gifts.
The jury began deliberations after hearing nearly eight hours of attorneys' closing arguments and roughly nine weeks of testimony.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
