Jury reports deadlock on 3 counts against Paul staffers

Jurors reportedly have a unanimous decision on three charges brought against a duo of former Ron Paul presidential campaign staffers, but they will continue deliberations on Thursday in hopes of reaching a verdict on all counts.

The jury in the public corruption trial of former campaign chair Jesse Benton and former deputy campaign manager Dimitri Kesari sent four questions to U.S. Chief Judge John Jarvey throughout the first full day of deliberations on Wednesday. Prosecutors allege the two operatives illegally hid $73,000 in payments to former Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson for his endorsement ahead of the 2012 Iowa Republican caucus.

Jurors started deliberating late Tuesday afternoon after prosecutors and defense attorneys finished closing arguments.

By Wednesday afternoon, the jury sent Jarvey a note claiming, after seven hours of deliberation, they'd reached a unanimous verdict on three of the combined six counts that Benton and Kesari face. However, they were deadlocked on the other half, according to a juror whose name was redacted from court documents.

"I do not feel we will be able to reach a unanimous decision on those 3 counts," the juror wrote to the judge. "What is our next step?"

Jarvey wrote back that it was too early in deliberations to consider the jury "hopelessly deadlocked." The jurors continued working before leaving for the day around 5 p.m.

Benton, who is married to Paul's granddaughter, faces a single count of lying to FBI agents during an interview in July 2014. Kesari faces five charges: conspiracy, causing false records, causing false campaign expenditure reports, false statements scheme and obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice built a case over four days that the two operatives kept payments to Sorenson off public expenditure reports after the former state senator publicly denied allegations that he took money for his endorsement. The money was filtered from the campaign to Sorenson through an audio/visual company, according to testimony and emails introduced at trial.

In their first question to Jarvey, jurors asked to see a transcript of testimony on Monday from David Mason, an election law attorney and former chairman of the Federal Elections Commission. Mason was a key witness called by Kesari's defense and testified that the law is still "open" on whether a political campaign must disclose the so-called "ultimate payee" of every expense.

Mason told jurors that it's increasingly common for presidential campaigns to contract with businesses for certain services, like advertising, that enlist sub-vendors for the actual work. Jesse Binnall, Kesari's lawyer, has argued that Sorenson was a legitimate employee of the Paul campaign, with duties that included appearing alongside the Texas congressman and recording a robocall.

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Jarvey told jurors it would take too long to prepare a transcript of the testimony. "You will need to rely on your collective recollection of the evidence," he wrote.

Another note said jurors were struggling with the legal definition of "willful." The note specifically referred to a section of the jury instructions reading that, to be found guilty, a person must "act with the intent to do something that he knows the law forbids." It's significant, as several of the charges against both Benton and Kesari require that the alleged criminal actions were done willfully.

Later jurors asked for even more clarification on the issue, writing, "An Iowa person doesn't honestly know fireworks in Iowa are illegal. The person brings back fireworks from Missouri, a police officer finds person and issues a ticket. The person is guilty of a crime but not willfully guilty. Is this a correct understanding of willful?"

Jarvey wrote back that the hypothetical situation did not apply to the election law violations at issue in the case, again telling jurors the legal definition of willful. "Willfulness" is only a factor in some of the charges brought against the two, including the lone charge against Benton, the instructions show.