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Jurors Deadlocked; Judge Declares Mistrial In Wecht Case

POSTED: 9:26 am EDT April 8, 2008
UPDATED: 7:02 pm EDT April 8, 2008

The jury in the Cyril Wecht case announced in court Tuesday that they were unable to reach a verdict after the third week of deliberations.

Jurors returned to the courtroom Tuesday morning after deliberating for four hours on Monday when Judge Arthur Schwab rejected the defense's motion to declare a mistrial.

Last week, jurors became deadlocked, but Judge Schwab ordered the jury members to return to deliberations.

Wecht faced 41 fraud and theft counts for allegedly using his former Allegheny County coroner's staff to do work for his lucrative private practice.

Channel 11's Alan Jennings has learned a retrial is scheduled to take place on May 27.

U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan issued a statement following Schwab's declaration of a mistrial:

"We are committed to eliminating the culture of corruption that prevails when officials at the highest levels abuse the public trust. Allegations of wrongdoing by public officials can be both challenging to investigate and to prove. A deadlocked jury means only that the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the charges presented. The government bears the burden of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, each element of every count charged."

Trial Timeline:
Here is a look at some of the important dates during the course of the trial:

In April of last year, Wecht was indicted by the Grand Jury.

He was charged with 84 counts of using his public office for personal financial gain. The number of counts was eventually reduced to 41.

The trial began on January 28 and lasted more than seven weeks.

Jury deliberations began March 18.

On April 1, one of the jurors got sick. The judge said deliberations would continue with just 11 jurors.

Tuesday, jurors said they would not be able to reach a verdict and the judge declared a mistrial.



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