Jury reaches no verdict in Jefferson trial

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A federal jury in Virginia failed to reach a verdict Tuesday in the corruption trial of former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La.

The panel ended its fourth day of deliberations about 90 minutes early to accommodate one juror's schedule and will resume work Wednesday morning, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported.

The jury asked U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis a question Tuesday morning but the nature of the inquiry was not disclosed. Ellis discussed the question with lawyers from both sides and said only it was a matter that needed to be addressed, the newspaper said.

Jefferson's attorney said earlier he wasn't worried about the length of the deliberations.

"I don't make anything of it," lawyer Robert Trout said, acknowledging the complexity of the racketeering trial and the 16-count indictment against his client.

When greeted by a CNN reporter outside the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va., Monday, Jefferson, had said he was "doing OK."

Jefferson, 62, was indicted in 2007 on corruption charges, about two years after government agents found $90,000 in his freezer, CNN reported Tuesday.

The cash was payment from an FBI informant in a transaction captured on video, prosecutors alleged during Jefferson's trial, which began June 16.

He is charged with abusing his congressional authority to solicit and receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for promoting products and services in Africa, especially Nigeria.

Jefferson maintains he was acting as a private businessman and is not guilty of the charges of racketeering, money laundering, wire fraud and obstruction of justice.