U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty sent the jury home after deliberations over five days, and after a slew of notes asking questions about Schulte's monthlong trial, which opened Feb. 4. Jurors were due to return Monday.
Schulte has been jailed since December 2017 on charges of sending a trove of top-secret computer code to WikiLeaks. Schulte left the agency in November 2016 and was arrested after WikiLeaks published the information in March 2017. He faces 10 criminal counts, eight stemming from the alleged leak of secrets and two stemming from his conduct after he was jailed in December 2017 for violating bail conditions.
"We are aligned on two counts. We are at an impasse on the remaining counts," the jury told Judge Crotty in a note that completed their week.
Judge Crotty asked the jury to take precautions against COVID-19, better known as the new coronavirus, which has made headlines as it spreads in the United States.
"I hope you take care of yourselves," Judge Crotty said before cutting the jury loose. "Make sure you wash your hands and stay away from crowds. Have a good weekend."
The divided jury then left, having peppered Judge Crotty all week with notes asking for information about witnesses and their testimony, and about aspects of technical evidence the government says proves Schulte is the leaker.
The jury of nine women and two men was reduced from the usual 12 members because of the dismissal Thursday of a female juror who snooped online seeking details about the case.
Schulte is represented by the Law Offices of Sabrina Shroff, Edward Zas of the Federal Defenders of New York Inc. and the Law Office of James M. Branden.
The government is represented by David Denton, Sidhardha Kamaraju and Matthew Laroche of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
The case is USA v. Schulte, case number 1:17-cr-00548, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
--Editing by Peter Rozovsky.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
