UPDATE: Jury says they're deadlocked; will come back Tuesday

NEWARK -- Seven of the 16 jurors and alternates in the trial of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez raised their hands when U.S. District Judge William Walls on Monday morning asked whether they'd heard or read anything about the case, prompting the judge to take them into his chambers individually to get more details.

The inquiry came after defense attorneys in the trial noted that widespread news coverage of an excused juror's public statements may have tainted the remaining members of the panel.

The defense said they were concerned about statements made to the press by Evelyn Arroyo-Maultsby on Thursday after she was excused from the jury for a pre-planned vacation, of which she had notified the court during jury selection in August.



Four seated jurors and three alternates said they were exposed to some type of media coverage.



Arroyo-Mautsby told reporters after court on Thursday that a juror prevented her from sending a note to Walls and that she had been told that her vote didn't matter.

After questioning the four seated jurors, Walls said he found no reason to declare a mistrial. Earlier, Walls had said he watched Arroyo-Mautsby's interview on television Thursday night and concluded her statements basically "amplified" her comments in the jury room.

"You are starting fresh. You are starting anew," Walls told jurors after the inquiries. "Forget about whatever happened last week. This is the jury."

Abbe Lowell, Menendez's lead defense attorney, wanted Walls to delve into the issue of the note that Arroyo-Mautsby had sought to send to the judge on Thursday and eventually reached him by Monday.

Lowell and defense attorney Kirk Ogrosky aruged that the dismissed juror's complaints to reporters about other jurors saying her opinion didn't matter because she was leaving was tantamount to juror manipulation and could rise to the level of jury misconduct, which can be grounds for a mistrial.

"If that happened, I think that is misconduct," Ogrosky said.

"How?" Walls asked.

"Because they're not allowing her to deliberate," Ogrosky replied.

Arroyo-Mautsby had told reporters jurors were split over whether Menendez, a Democrat, was guilty of bribery and that she was the only one who felt he was not guilty of making false statements by failing to report on his Senate disclosure forms for several years gifts from his co-defendant, Salomon Melgen.

Prosecutors had alleged Melgen, an ophthalmologist, had provided the senator with six-figure campaign contributions, luxury hotel stays and private plane flights in exchange for Menendez's intervention on the doctor's behalf in an $8.9 million Medicare billing dispute, the visa applications of Melgen's foreign girlfriends and a contested port security contract in the Dominican Republic.

Defense attorneys sought to convince the jury Menendez's meetings with government officials were routine legislative activity, rather than corrupt acts performed in exchange for bribes from a wealthy Florida physician.

Ultimately, neither Menendez nor his co-defendant, Salomon Melgen, both 63, elected to take the stand in their own defense.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached by email at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty.

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached by email at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto.