By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
A lone holdout in the trial of Paul Manafort prevented the jury from convicting the former Trump campaign chairman on all 18 counts of bank and tax fraud, according to a juror who described herself as a supporter of President Trump.
“We all tried to convince her to look at the paper trail. We laid it out in front of her again and again, and she still said that she had a reasonable doubt,” juror Paula Duncan said in an interview on Fox News. “We didn’t want it to be hung, so we tried for an extended period of time to convince her. But in the end she held out, and that’s why we have 10 counts that did not get a verdict.”
The 12-member jury unanimously reached a guilty verdict in eight of the 18 counts but could not reach consensus on the other 10 counts because one juror who said she had reasonable doubts about the other 1o counts could not be swayed, Duncan said.
As a result, Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on the 10 counts.
Duncan described the deliberations as intense and emotional.
“It was a very emotionally charged jury room – there were some tears,” Duncan said.
Paul Manafort juror Paula Duncan: “I did not want Paul Manafort to be guilty, but he was and no one’s above the law. @foxnewsnight https://t.co/IPeZ46buVL pic.twitter.com/xPSHB8HOqN
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 23, 2018
Duncan, an avid Trump supporter, said she was skeptical of the prosecutors’ motives in charging Manafort but had no choice in reaching the guilty verdicts because the prosecutors’ case was too strong.
“Certainly Mr. Manafort got caught breaking the law, but he wouldn’t have gotten caught if they weren’t after President Trump,” Duncan insisted, adding that she believed the special counsel’s case was a “witch hunt to try to find Russian collusion.”
Manafort was ordered to stay in jail until a sentencing hearing was scheduled for sometime later this year. The 69-year-old who spent more than $15 million to fund his lavish lifestyle, could end up sending the rest of his life behind bars.
Manafort also faces another trial later this year on separate charges.
