Jury Struggles With Verdict in Federal Bribe Trial

By MACKENZIE GANTER & PAOLO CREMIDIS

A Federal jury told the judge that they were deadlocked 10-2 Tuesday in the trial of contractors accused of bribing public housing officials in exchange for contracts.

But Judge Nina Geshon urged the panelists to keep working. “I’m going to ask you to continue deliberation,” she said after the jury pondered the case for only three days. “This case is important both to the government and the defendant. You have deliberated for barely the equivalent of one day, in a case that took three weeks to try.”

The judge’s exhortation came after reading the jurors’ note:

“we seem to be at a standstill of coming to an agreement in a unanimous fashion, what do we do now? We apologize.”

The four-week trial accuses Stevenson Dunn and his two partners Lee Hymowitz, and Michael Freeman of doling out bribes to New York City Housing Authority officials in exchange for contracts.

Dunn’s firm, ZML developers, was awarded contracts to build affordable housing in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

One Housing Authority official Wendell Walters described receiving a $5,000 dollar bribe from Mr. Dunn.

In other parts of his testimony Mr. Walters described receiving bribes in the form of trips to Greece, Jamaica, and receiving appliances from developers.

Walters’s has now become an informant for the FBI, testifying on corruption within the New York City housing Authority.

The four-week trial accuses Dunn and his two partners Lee Hymowitz, and Michael Freeman of doling out bribes to New York City Housing Authority officials in exchange for contracts.

Dunn’s firm, ZML Developers, was awarded contracts to build affordable housing in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

One Housing Authority official, Wendell Walters, described receiving a $5,000 dollar bribe from Mr. Dunn.

In other parts of his testimony Walters described receiving bribes in the form of trips to Greece, Jamaica, and receiving appliances from developers.

Walters has now become an informant for the FBI, testifying on corruption in the New York City housing Authority.