JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown’s fraud trial (all times local):
11 a.m.
A juror accused of making a questionable comment has been excused from deliberations in former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown’s fraud trial.
News outlets report that U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan excused the person Wednesday morning after the juror made comments during deliberations about Brown and “higher beings.”
The issue came to light after another juror called the court Tuesday night to report concerns over the excused juror’s comments.
An alternate juror has been put in place and deliberations are starting over.
Brown is a Democrat who represented the Florida district including the city of Jacksonville from 1993 to 2016. Prosecutors say she funneled money from a nonprofit education fund into her personal accounts.
Brown has pleaded not guilty. She says it was her former chief of staff Elias “Ronnie” Simmons who stole the money.
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2 a.m.
Jurors will return for a third day of deliberations in the fraud and tax evasion trial of former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown.
The jury will return Wednesday. Prosecutors and defense attorneys made their closing arguments Monday before giving the case to jurors. The jury met all day Tuesday without reaching a decision.
Prosecutors say Brown, a Democrat who represented the Florida district that included Jacksonville since 1993, funneled money from One Door for Education into her personal accounts.
She has pleaded not guilty, blaming her former chief of staff Elias “Ronnie” Simmons for stealing.
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