A jury has found Democrat Andrew Gillum "not guilty" of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Washington Examiner reports.
But, the outlet reports that the jury is deadlocked on the remaining charges.
For those unfamiliar with Gillum, he is one of the Democrats' former rising stars. He was once the mayor of Tallahassee, Florida. And, in 2018, he almost beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the race for the governorship.
But, since then, he has found himself with some serious legal problems.
The prosecution alleged that Gillum and Sharon Lettman-Hicks, the owner of P&P Communications, developed a scheme to take money from grants and donations that were made to his gubernatorial campaign.
The Examiner reports:
Specifically, Gillum was accused of accepting $57,000 in political contributions. Prosecutors also said he lied to authorities about his dealings with undercover FBI agents who posed as developers and paid for a pricey 2016 trip for Gillum and his brother to New York City, complete with complimentary tickets to see Hamilton on Broadway.
Gillum was charged with one count of lying to the FBI, 17 counts of wire fraud, and one count of wire fraud conspiracy.
For the lying to the FBI charge, Gillum was facing a five-year maximum prison sentence and, for each of the remaining charges, Gillum faced up to 20 years imprisonment.
Gillum pled "not guilty" to the charges.
After four days of deliberation, the 12-member jury found Gillum not guilty of lying to the FBI. But, the jury was unable to reach a decision on the remaining fraud charges. In fact, the only reason deliberations went as long as they did is that the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on these fraud charges.
Gillum, on Thursday, spoke with reporters outside of the courtroom following the jury's verdict.
Gillum said:
I and our family have felt over these last seven years under attack on all sides. They’ve quite literally tried to take everything. And, the beauty is that in our system, the powers that be don’t always get to decide. Every day people like you and me sometimes get our swing at the ball and today the jury took it. Today, all I can muster is gratitude.
Gillum, however, is not completely in the clear.
Assistant US Attorney Gary Milligan II has stated that the government will retry both Gillum and Lettman-Hicks about the charges that the jury deadlocked on.
