Jury deadlocked in trial of National Black Justice Coalition CEO
A trial that began on April 17 in a federal court in Tallahassee, Fla., for Sharon Lettman-Hicks, the CEO and board chair of the D.C.-based LGBTQ group National Black Justice Coalition, ended in a mistrial on Thursday after a jury became deadlocked and could not render a verdict on 19 specific charges.
But the jury handed down a verdict of not guilty on one of the 19 charges against former Tallahassee mayor and unsuccessful Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum who was on trial together with Lettman-Hicks.
The jury acquitted Gillum on a single charge of providing false statements to the FBI. Federal prosecutors announced they plan to bring Lettman-Hicks and Gillum up for another trial on multiple charges where the jury was unable to render a verdict.
The trial began about 10 months after a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Florida on June 7, 2022, handed down an indictment charging both Gillum and Lettman-Hicks, who served as a campaign adviser to Gillum, with conspiracy and multiple counts of fraud.
