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No fraud verdict reached
Jurors will resume deliberations Monday
The 12 jurors who have been listening to arguments in federal court for the past month looked relieved Friday afternoon to learn they wouldn’t have to decide the fate of defendant Abraham Kennard until next week.
U.S. District Judge Harold L. Murphy announced just before 5 p.m. that, after nearly five hours of deliberation, jurors were free to go home for the weekend. He told them to “try not to worry about the case.”
Before delving deeply into the piles of evidence in the case, jurors had asked Murphy for clarification on the law regarding money laundering charges against Kennard. Murphy responded by asking the court reporter to transcribe instructions he had given them that morning during a jury charge.
The panel will reconvene at 9 a.m. Monday.
Kennard’s trial began Jan. 10 with jury selection. During opening arguments the following day, the defendant took the podium to deliver his own oration.
Prosecutors — who contend that Kennard stole some $9 million from 1,600 churches and nonprofit organizations in 41 states by way of an advance-fee fraud scheme — mistook “a dream for a scheme,” Kennard argued.
Kennard elected to represent himself during trial, retaining court-appointed attorney Michael Trost as advisory counsel. After being quite vocal during the first part of the trial, Kennard decided to take a back seat to Trost by the end.
Trost questioned the tail end of prosecutors’ long list of witnesses before calling three defense witnesses to the stand. He also delivered a closing argument on Kennard’s behalf Thursday afternoon, telling jurors that his client “never harbored the intent to defraud anyone.”
Kennard, who has remained in custody at a federal facility in Centre, Ala., throughout the trial, is charged with mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering and income-tax evasion.
His brother and co-defendant, LaBoyce Kennard, has also been in custody since Murphy revoked his bond Jan. 25. LaBoyce Kennard was late to court that day because he had been detained for a motor vehicle violation on his way to Rome from Atlanta.
He is charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors say LaBoyce Kennard flowed some of his brother’s money through a Houston-based “shell company.”
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