TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Former Florida Democratic applicant for governor Andrew Gillum, who arrived in just a whisker of defeating Republican Ron DeSantis in 2018, was acquitted Thursday of lying to the FBI in a corruption circumstance that also involved unlawful use of marketing campaign contributions.
But the federal jury hung on charges that Gillum funneled tens of thousands of pounds in marketing campaign dollars to private accounts. Prosecutors said they will retry him on those people counts. They had claimed Gillum was having difficulties fiscally following quitting his $120,000-a-calendar year task with the People today for the American Way team to operate for governor.
Gillum was acquitted of lying to undercover FBI agents posing as builders who paid out for a 2016 vacation he took with his brother to New York, together with lodge rooms, foods, a boat tour and a ticket to the hit Broadway display “Hamilton.”
Outside the courthouse, Gillum thanked his loved ones, wife, legal team and pastor for their guidance, but took a dig at prosecutors.
“They have really practically experimented with to acquire everything from us. And the splendor is in our method the powers that be never often get to come to a decision. Every day people today like you and me often get our swing at the ball,” he reported.
Asked about what arrives subsequent, Gillum explained “slumber” as he walked absent from a gaggle of news reporters.
Gillum experienced faced a perhaps prolonged jail sentence if convicted, even though, beneath federal sentencing tips, he would have very likely gotten much much less than the optimum.
The jury came back again hung for community relations executive and Gillum adviser, co-defendant Sharon Lettman-Hicks, in the case. Prosecutors say they will also retry her.
Gillum, 43, a former Tallahassee mayor, sought to become the first Black governor in Florida heritage when he took on DeSantis in 2018. Gillum shed by fewer than 34,000 votes to DeSantis, triggering an automated recount.
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