NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the case against a Steve Bannon associate accused of siphoning donations from the “We Build the Wall” fund — after a deadlocked jury said it couldn’t overcome ideological differences.
The mistrial comes after the jury deliberated for more than 30 hours whether Colorado businessman Timothy Shea was guilty of stealing contributions from the $25 million raised by ex-President Donald Trump’s supporters. The fund aimed to privately finance a portion of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump’s signature immigration policy.
On Thursday, the jury wrote Judge Analisa Torres to say a holdout, Roberto, described the case as a “government witch hunt.” They wrote that his beliefs were preventing them from reaching a verdict. The juror, according to notes, had accused his fellow panelists of being biased New York liberals.
The holdout had claimed federal prosecutors charged Shea in Manhattan Federal Court “because they knew people here vote differently.”
The juror asserted that Shea “should have been charged in a Southern state” and “is a good man” who doesn’t beat his wife, the note said. Shea was not charged with domestic abuse.
Torres told jurors to continue deliberating despite the discord. But on Tuesday, the jury said it had reached an impasse.
“Judge Torres, in the last few days, we have narrowed our focus to an agreed-upon scope consisting of a few points of contention. We’ve gone to extreme depth in granular detail, building a bottom up analysis regarding these points. In doing so, it is abundantly clear that we are even further entrenched in our opposing views,” the jury reported.
“We cannot reach a verdict on any of the three counts.”
Shea — who owns a startup energy drink company that proudly declares it includes “Ultra Hydrating Liberal Tears Made in America” — declined comment at the urging of his attorney John Meringolo.
“We look forward to retrying this case as soon as possible,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.
The only defendant to go to trial in the We Build the Wall fraud case, Shea was charged with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy in August 2020 along with Bannon, Brian Kolfage, a triple amputee Air Force veteran, and Andrew Badolato, a longtime Bannon associate from Sarasota, Florida.
Prosecutors say he operated a shell company that funneled $20,000 of donations a month from the “We Build the Wall” fund to Kolfage from December 2018 through June 2020.
Trump pardoned Bannon of charges alleging he spent $1 million from the fund on personal expenses. The Manhattan district attorney is investigating the former White House adviser for the same alleged conduct.
Kolfage, who served as the public face of the “We Build the Wall” fund, and Badolato pleaded guilty to the charges in April.
A juror, Lauren Reyes, 19, who spoke with reporters after the mistrial said dealing with the holdout “was like talking to a wall.”
“It was incredibly frustrating,” said Reyes, of the Bronx. ”We didn’t want to give up on this. It was straightforward.”
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