Where Are They Now?: Federal prosecutors said Monday they would not seek to retry former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum or ally Sharon Lettman-Hicks on charges that they illegally siphoned off campaign money for their own uses. The move comes less than two weeks after a federal jury acquitted Gillum, who was the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor of Florida, on charges that he lied to the FBI during an investigation into local corruption, while failing to reach a verdict on the other 18 fraud counts. (Lettman-Hicks was only indicted in the latter matter.)
The lead prosecutor originally responded to the jury’s announcement by saying “our intention right now at least off the cuff is that we’re going to proceed forward with a second trial.” However, the Tallahassee Democrat notes that those remarks came before the government learned that the jurors voted 10-2 in favor of acquitting Gillum on each of the remaining charges, which was a strong indication they’d have trouble prevailing if given a second chance.