For weeks in a Brooklyn courtroom, federal prosecutors pounded jurors with photos they said were evidence that Linda Sun accepted bribes from Chinese officials in exchange for influencing policy in the New York governor’s office.
They depicted a brand new white Ferrari parked in the garage of a Manhasset mansion, a closet full of designer handbags, and a Patek Philippe watch.
But not all jurors bought the government’s story, and on Monday, they announced that they were deadlocked. Judge Brian Cogan declared a mistrial.
Prosecutors say they will retry Linda Sun “as soon as possible.” But legal experts say it was a meaningful setback in a high-stakes case for federal prosecutors – and that what was a tough case the first time around will be even tougher the second.
“ Now the defense essentially knows the government’s arguments. It knows exactly the evidence that the government will present,” said Alex Langton, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who’s represented people accused of violating the Foreign Agents’ Registration Act. Sun’s legal team, she said, “will be able to really sharpen and crystallize its defense even further.”
Sun’s defense attorneys quickly claimed the mistrial as a win.
“We sincerely hope that the government considers the jury’s inability to reach a verdict on any count against any defendant before taking this flawed case to trial again,” lead attorney Jarrod Schaeffer said in a statement.
Sun, who was an aide to both Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, was charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent for China, as well as wire fraud, visa fraud, and money laundering.
Her husband, Chris Hu, was accused of helping launder bribe money through his various businesses and bank accounts, including a Queens-based lobster exporting company.
Defense attorneys argued Sun was simply doing her job as a liaison to New York’s Asian-American community and that Hu’s businesses were separate from his wife’s work in government.
Adam Hickey, a former senior official at the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said the 19-count indictment contained multiple theories and a complex set of facts.
“ Sometimes the government will bring a lot of charges in the hope that they’re giving the jury a lot to work with,” he said. “The downside is that the jury may feel like there's too much to sort through and it may make it more difficult for them.”
Anna Cominsky, a professor at New York Law School and director of its criminal defense clinic, said a mistrial is “never good for the government.”
Defense attorneys now “know the strengths, they know the weaknesses,” she said. “They have an opportunity to analyze all that and try the case again with the benefit of that information.”
Hickey said defense attorneys also now have a stronger hand when it comes to plea negotiations. “ Now that both sides have seen the case play out, the defense – notwithstanding what they said publicly – may be amenable to taking a plea in a narrow way,” he said. “Maybe they don't want to go through a trial again and risk a conviction.”
Prosecutors could choose to drop some of the charges to simplify the indictment, Hickey said. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A status conference is set for the end of January.
But Cominsky of New York Law School also had a warning for the defense team about reading too much into the deadlocked jury.
“ Just because it hung one time doesn't mean, ‘Oh now the defense has a phenomenal case,’” she said. “ A trial is always a huge risk for the defendant because we don't know what juries are going to do.”
