Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell Takes Issue with Jury, Wants a New Trial

Former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, left, leaves U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia with his son Bobby after the jury began their deliberations on his corruption trial.
(Photo: Alex Wong, Getty Images)

Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell asked Thursday for a new trial, less than two months after he and his wife, Maureen, were convicted on several counts of corruption.

Bob McDonnell’s lawyers filed a memorandum in U.S. District Court here laying out four reasons for a new trial.

Jurors did not receive proper instructions, were not impartial because they were not adequately screened for pre-trial publicity and knowledge of the case and began deliberations too soon, the lawyers said in their 30-page motion. Lawyers made a fourth claim that the judge allowed prosecutors to admit improper evidence.

The judge erred by not acting on evidence that members of the jury were discussing the case among themselves before the trial finished, the motion said. The claim is based on statements one juror made to a lawyer friend whom he called for advice in the middle of the trial.

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Source: USA Today | Nick Ochsner, WVEC-TV, Hampton-Norfolk, Va.