PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The jury was unable to reach a verdict in the four-week-long federal bribery trial of Philadelphia City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson, his wife Dawn Chavous, and two former executives of the Universal Companies, a housing and charter school nonprofit founded by music producer Kenny Gamble that was in Johnson’s district.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said that they will retry all four defendants.
The jury was deadlocked on a verdict after deliberating for 25 hours over four days, and the judge in the case dismissed them late Tuesday afternoon.
At the end of day three, they told the judge they could not come to a unanimous verdict, but he asked them to return. They requested more exhibits.
Judge Gerald McHugh said he was impressed at the way they applied themselves, but at the end of the day, they reported no one had budged. They declined to comment as they left the courthouse on what the issues had been, but Johnson’s attorney Pat Egan had a theory.
"The issue, in this case, is that there was no evidence in our view," said Egan. "Fortunately, some of the jurors obviously saw that way as well."
There was relief among supporters who had sat loyally through the four weeks of trial and deliberations. They hugged the defendants as they made their way out of court.
Outside, Councilmember Johnson thanked God and vowed to carry on.
"I’ll continue fighting on behalf of the residents that I represent in the second councilmanic district," he said.
His wife, Dawn Chavous, did not speak. They have been under investigation for six years, indicted just before the pandemic.
But prosecutors said through a spokesperson that they are committed to retrying the case. Egan said he did not believe the outcome would change.
"There is no evidence, because my client did nothing wrong, and hopefully at the end of the day, reason and justice will prevail and this case will go away without any convictions for my client or his spouse," said Egan.
Chavous’ lawyer Barry Gross said the charge was particularly hard on her.
"It’s been very hard for her to sit there every day for five weeks and when people question the value of your work, it’s been very difficult," said Gross.
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Jurors had been expected to hear the second phase of the case, which concerns only the two former Universal executives, but the judge dismissed them.
He told them not to feel as if they had failed, and that the inability to reach a verdict is part of the American justice system.
In 2014, Johnson took two routine actions that seemingly benefitted the Universal Companies: He sponsored a zoning change for a building it owned, and when asked, he told the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority that he did not want it to retake possession of lots that Universal owned jointly with the Philadelphia Housing Authority.
Prosecutors alleged Johnson’s reason was not his long-time support of the company or the preference of his constituents, but a consulting contract that his wife Chavous had with the company, for which she earned about $67,000 over 16 months, from 2013 until two months before Johnson sponsored the zoning change.
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The prosecution created an extensive record with thousands of documents and testimony from 20 witnesses. The narrative they weaved from those records and testimony involved a financially distressed Universal that desperately needed help from Johnson so it could sell real estate it owned in his district. Johnson and Chavous, in the words of prosecutors, were also in financial distress and so agreed to provide help in exchange for a bribe in the form of a contract for Chavous’ consulting company.
All four defense attorneys accused the government of distorting the evidence and rejected the narrative that Universal or Johnson and Chavous were in financial distress.
They noted Universal was expanding in 2013, and Johnson and Chavous never had less than $20,000 in their bank accounts throughout the period of the indictment.
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