Jury Deliberations in Menendez Trial to Start Over After Juror Is Excused
NEWARK — In a federal trial that has been extended by legal arguments and delays, the jury that is deciding the fate of Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey will have to restart deliberations next week because a juror was excused on Thursday so she could go on a long-planned vacation.
The excused juror, in an interview later at her home, said that had she remained on the panel, she would have found Mr. Menendez not guilty of all the charges against him. “They’re trying to railroad the senator,” said the juror, Evelyn Maultsby, 61. “If anything, the government is corrupt, not the senator, that’s how I feel.”
Ms. Maultsby said the remaining jurors were divided over whether Mr. Menendez and his co-defendant, Dr. Salomon Melgen, a wealthy eye doctor from Florida, had committed a crime. “All I see is friends trying to help each other and that’s it,” said Ms. Maultsby, who lives in Hillside and works as an auditor for New Jersey Transit.
“My heart goes out for him,” she said, referring to Mr. Menendez, “and I’m praying for him that they do not find him guilty. If I could just give him a hug.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/nyregion/robert-menendez-trial-jury.html
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