Jurors in the Linda Sun case said Thursday they can’t decide on whether the former top aide to Govs. Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo illegally served as a Chinese agent.
“We deeply feel that no progress can be made to change any jurors’ judgment on all counts,” the panel said on the fourth day of deliberations in the bombshell federal corruption trial.
“There are fundamental differences on the evidence and the interpretation of the law,” the jury added in a note to Brooklyn federal Judge Brian Cogan. “We cannot come to a unanimous decisions (sic).”
A Brooklyn jury weighing if a former top aide to Govs. Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo illegally served as a Chinese agent said Thursday that it cannot decide. Gregory P. MangoCogan ordered the jury to keep deliberating, for now.
The 12 panelists will return to court Monday morning and must start from scratch with a new juror replacing a woman who was dismissed because she has an unmissable flight to catch, the jurist said.
Before the jury entered the room Thursday afternoon, Sun, 42, wearing an oversized black shirt and tan heels, flashed a smile at the defense table where she chatted with her lawyer, Jarrod Schaeffer.
The jury began weighing the charges against Sun on Monday, following a month-long trial in which prosecutors argued the former Albany staffer used her powerful post to push Beijing’s agenda.
In exchange, she allegedly received payoffs that funded a lavish lifestyle, as well as smaller perks like delectable salted ducks delivered by the head of the Chinese consulate office in New York.
Sun’s husband, Chris Hu, 41, is accused of helping her launder the proceeds of the allegedly illicit scheme, and also faces a tax fraud rap.
Her husband Chris Hu, 41, is charged with helping her launder the proceeds of the allegedly illicit scheme, and with tax fraud. APBoth Sun and Hu are separately charged with a bribery plot involving allegedly funneling COVID-19 equipment contracts to a company run by Sun’s cousin.
The couple has pleaded not guilty to a total of 19 felony counts.
After the jury reported earlier in the day that it was deadlocked, prosecutor Alexander Solomon urged the judge to remind the panel that it can reach a partial verdict of not-guilty on some counts and guilty on others.
But Cogan declined, saying that it appeared to him that the jury was split on the entirety of the government’s case, based on the note the panelists sent.
“It looks like they can’t reach a verdict on any of the counts,” the judge said, adding: “This jury would tell us if they had a unanimous verdict on any of the counts.”
