No Verdict In Shelnutt Trial

By five o’clock it was obvious the judge was sending the jury home for the night.

The jury has hundreds of hours of tapes to listen to as well as several exhibits at their disposal. For Mark Shelnutt, today signifies the lifting of a heavy burden.
“It’s hard to articulate, put into words. This has been going on for such a long time but now that it’s in the hands of the jury it just feels like a release off my shoulders.“

In closing arguments, Prosecutors David Stewart and Carlton Bourne told jurors the drug money Shelnutt received was not attorney’s fees. They said he put the cash in his office desk drawer, a safe at home and in the so-called kitty fund. They also said Shelnutt’s intent was to hide the money and clean it by putting it into various accounts and out of state real estate in North Carolina, Florida and a condo in Columbus.
But Defense Attorney Tom Withers reminded the jury that getting paid his fees in cash even if it’s drug money is not illegal, therefore Shelnutt had nothing to hide. Judge Clay Land wanted the jury to understand that if Shelnutt’s attorney’s fees were in cash, no matter the source, it cannot be illegal to conceal the fees.

The jury will have to decide whether Shelnutt is guilty of money laundering, conspiracy to launder money, aiding and abetting a conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, bribery and making a false statement.
 
Withers told jurors this case is a witch hunt, and an attack on the system. This is the very system Shelnutt says he still trusts. “The system right now is the jury. The judge has given the jury the law and that’s what America is all about is a jury system and I’ve always believed in the jury system.“

Judge Clay Land made it clear to the jury that their verdict must be unanimous. He said “the only score I want to hear is 12 to nothing.
 
Deliberations resume at 8:30.