AKRON — A jury failed to reach a verdict in the corruption trial for two former FirstEnergy executives charged in the Ohio House Bill 6 bribery scandal, WOIO, a CBS affiliate in Cleveland, reported.
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The hung jury in the case of Charles Jones, 70, and Michael Dowling, 61, came after nine days of deliberations.
Attorneys for Jones and Dowling said there is “insignificant evidence for the case to continue.”
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost addressed the hung jury in a video statement on Tuesday, saying that the state will retry Jones and Dowling.
“Justice needs to be done,” Yost said.
The trial against Jones and Dowling began on Jan. 27 in Summit County.
Court of Common Pleas Judge Susan Baker Ross held a special hearing on Monday after two pieces of evidence the jurors weren’t supposed to see made it inside their deliberation room on Friday, WOIO reported.
The judge told jurors who saw the evidence to disregard it as they continued with their deliberations.
The jury had been given the case after closing arguments concluded on March 17.
The $60 million bribery scheme centers around FirstEnergy’s efforts to have state lawmakers pass Ohio House Bill 6, which provided a $1.3 billion bailout for two of the company’s nuclear plants.
As News Center 7 previously reported, former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was among those arrested in connection to the scheme in 2020. He was later convicted and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
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