Donald Trump may have a potential glimmer of hope after a special grand jury in Georgia released its report on Friday relating to the former president's indictment from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP 2024 presidential primary, and 18 other co-defendants were charged last month by Willis in relation to their alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state. The former president is currently facing 13 counts, including alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. He has maintained his innocence in the case and plead not guilty during his arraignment.
Meanwhile, the special grand jury's report showed that its members unanimously agreed on the recommended charges for Trump as at least one member voted against each of the charges recommended by the grand jury. According to the report, the grand jury voted 20-1 in favor of indicting Trump in regards to the national effort to overturn the election. The lack of an unanimous agreement on the recommended charges for the former president could potentially result in a hung jury when the case moves forward in court.
According to The Turner Law Firm in Savannah, Georgia, in the state, "if a jury cannot agree unanimously on a verdict, they may be declared as 'hung.'"
"While the best outcome after a jury trial is a not guilty verdict, if the jury is hung, it can often lead to the prosecutor working out a better plea deal or even dropping charges," the Turner Law Firm states.
Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers and a former federal prosecutor, told Newsweek on Friday that "the possibility of a hung jury is very real."
"These will be the most politicized trials in American history, and there is a significant percentage of the American people, and therefore potential jurors, who believe Trump is being treated unfairly. We saw at least one of those jurors in the special grand jury, which requires a much lower standard of proof to indict, probable cause, than required to convict at trial, reasonable doubt," he said.
According to Rahmani, Trump's defense will likely be focused on him claiming the indictment is a "political witch-hunt, election interference, and an attempt to prevent him from running for president."
"He and his lawyers will try to raise those arguments at trial, though the judge may not allow it. Jurors who may entertain those beliefs are likely to hang the panel," Rahmani said.
According to Michael McAuliffe, a former elected state attorney and former federal prosecutor, aspects of the special grand jury such as legal standards and evidence are "significantly different from a trial setting."
"For example, while the probable cause standard for a charging decision is lower than the beyond a reasonable doubt standard in a trial setting, the evidence presented to a grand jurors versus a trial juror also is very different. Also, trial jurors are instructed to reach unanimity while grand jurors are not required to reach consensus. That difference is a key reason not to over-evaluate the vote totals" McAuliffe told Newsweek on Friday. "In the end, the public will know whether the trial jurors reached unanimity through a verdict (guilty or not guilty) or in the event the jurors can't all agree, a mistrial. That's the dramatic story that will unfold over the next months, possibly years, in the Trump trials."
Attorney Andrew Lieb also told Newsweek on Friday that "a hung jury means that we don't have a jury that arrives at a unanimous decision, as to guilt, so Fani Willis could easily retry the case without double jeopardy issues."
However, Lieb noted that he thinks it will be unlikely to have a hung jury in this case and said that Trump's trial "will almost certainly include some flipping defendants who will spill the beans."
Trump responded to the report on Truth Social, his social media platform, on Friday writing that it has "ZERO credibility."
"Essentially, they wanted to indict anybody who happened to be breathing at the time. It totally undermines the credibility of the findings, and badly hurts the Great State of Georgia, whose wonderful and patriotic people are not happy with this charade of an out of control 'prosecutor' doing the work of, and for, the DOJ. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!" he wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.
Update: 9/8/23, 2:40 p.m. EST. This story has been updated with the correct title for Michael McAuliffe.
