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The corruption case against a former top aide to Gov. Cuomo inched closer to a mistrial Monday morning when the jury sent out a note saying that “we remain unable to reach a unanimous verdict.”
The note was the second regarding the deadlock that the panel first revealed Tuesday.
In response, Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni delivered a slightly stronger version of the “modified Allen charge” she read at that time, and told the jury to keep deliberating.
But Caproni stopped short of telling jurors in the minority to reconsider their views in light of those held by the majority, which is part of a traditional Allen charge.
A written version of her instructions said, “Your final vote must reflect your conscience belief as to how the issues should be decided.”
The jury is midway through its seventh day deliberating conspiracy, bribery and other charges against ex-Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco and three co-defendants accused of paying him more than $300,000 for official favors.
Defense lawyer Michael Yaeger said, “I don’t want to encourage horse-trading in a jury, a jury who has been pushed pretty hard and has been out for a while.”


