No verdict yet after day one of John Wiley Price trial deliberations
Day one of deliberations has come and gone and there’s no verdict yet in the John Wiley Price corruption trial.
Legal experts weren’t surprised that there was no decision from the jury on Wednesday. The trial lasted more than eight weeks and was filled with plenty of evidence and paperwork for the jurors to consider.
Price’s charges and possible sentences are:
- 1 count bribery - 5 years maximum
- 6 counts mail fraud/honest services - 30 years maximum per count
- 1 count conspiracy to commit mail fraud - 5 year maximum
- 3 counts false tax returns - 3 years maximum per count
Daphney Fain’s charges and possible sentences are:
- 1 count conspiracy to commit mail fraud - 5 year maximum
- 1 count lying to the government - 5 years maximum
The mail fraud counts against Price are ones Judge Barbara Lynn has said she is likely to throw out because she feels the government has not made its case.
Former U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins said the judge will decide punishment based on a federal sentencing formula if the jury finds Price and/or Fain guilty.
“She doesn’t have to apply it slavishly, but she's got to consult it,” Coggins said. “It looks at factors like amount of loss, were there vulnerable victims, was there abuse of trust -- all these kind of factors go into this formula. It spits out a certain number of months and it could be like 57 to 66 months and most sentences happen within that range.”
A sentence is typically handed down about sixty days after a guilty verdict.