By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — The jury in the public corruption trial of ex-Rep. William Jefferson deliberated for about four hours Thursday and is set resume Friday morning, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.
With 16-criminal counts to consider, a verdict isn’t likely to come before early next week. The jurors will have to consider evidence in the six-plus weeks of trial that included testimony from more than 40 witnesses, FBI tape recordings of Jefferson and reams of documents.
Jefferson, a Harvard educated lawyer and a 9-term Congressman, who was once considered unbeatable, lost his bid for re-election last year. His wife and five daughters sat in on the closing arguments in Alexandria, Va. on Wednesday.
The case became best known for the $90,000 in marked FBI bills that FBI agents found in Jefferson’s freezer during a raid on Aug. 3, 2005 (freezer pictured above).
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